Of all the stone fruit, I find plums to be a little underrated, but I love them, not least because they’re pretty versatile and work especially well in cakes. Here, I’ve cooked them with ginger until softened for a quick, jammy filling. Brown butter in the buttercream is the not-so-secret ingredient that makes everything taste infinitely better, bringing warming, caramel flavours to the buttery cake.
Plum and brown butter cake
Prep 10 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 12
For the sponge
330g plain flour
290g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
180g unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
150ml milk
1½ tsp vanilla bean paste
For the plums
3 plums
40g brown sugar
20g fresh ginger, peeled and grated
For the brown butter buttercream
250g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
¼ tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4, and grease and line two 20cm cake tins.
Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, and mix to combine. Add the butter, then beat on a medium speed until the mix has the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.
Add the eggs, mix until just combined, then pour in the milk and the vanilla bean paste and beat for a minute more, until you have a smooth batter. Pour this into the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove and leave the cakes to cool completely in their tins.
For the filling, halve and stone the plums, then roughly chop the fruit. Put the chopped plums in a small saucepan with the sugar and ginger, heat gently until the fruit softens and breaks down, then take off the heat and leave to cool.
To make the buttercream, melt the butter in a saucepan on a gentle heat, then carry on cooking it until the butter turns a deep amber colour and smells fragrant and nutty. Take off the heat, then pour into a heatproof bowl, including all the brown bits, and leave to cool. Once cooled, chill in the fridge until it’s the consistency of softened butter.
Put the chilled butter in a bowl, then beat in the icing sugar and salt until smooth and fluffy. Add the milk and beat briefly to combine.
To assemble, sandwich the cakes together with a layer of the buttercream and most of the plum filling. Spread the rest of the buttercream over the top and finish with the remaining plums.
