Honeyed Plum Pavlova

 

I baked this heavenly pavlova for our New Year's Eve dessert. As it was the first time in many years that all my family could get together for the New Year, the evening was to be a source of much celebration and laughter. This wintry pavlova with honeyed plums and berries was a massive success, with many people going back for third helpings, and by the time the clock struck midnight it was all gone, filling our bellies nicely as we continued to party into the early hours of the morning.

 

Meringue recipe adapted from the recipe given by Olive Magazine, see it at the BBC Good Food website here. Topping adapted from a recipe by Sophie Dahl for Christmas SugarPlum Syllabubby mess torn out of an old Waitrose Magazine, see similar at the Waitrose website here.

Serves 8 plus extra helpings

4 large egg whites
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar


1. Turn oven to 180C (160 fan ovens), and grease and line a large baking sheet or tray. If you like a neat meringue then you can trace around a 20cm cake tin base, in pencil on the back of the parchment paper, before placing the paper pencil side down on the greased baking sheet.

2. In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Bear in mind the bowl needs to be totally clean - any little piece of dirt or dust could stop the whites stiffening.

3. Next add the sugar, a tablespoon at time, and once all used up beat again for 3-4 minutes until the mixture is glossy and stands up in stiff peaks.

4. Whisk in the cornflour, vanilla essence and vinegar.

5. Spoon the meringue mixture onto the prepared baking tray, spreading it out to be a circle of about 20cm diameter, making a hollow in the centre of the mixture to form a nest.

6. As soon as the meringue goes into the oven, turn the oven right down to 120C (fan 100C). Bake in the oven for an hour and a half, then turn off the oven. Leave the meringue to cool in the oven, and only remove when totally cool. I baked mine in the evening and left it to cool overnight in the oven ready to eat the next day.

7. Once cool, gently peel off the parchment paper and place on a plate or dish. It doesn't matter if the meringue cracks a bit.


for the compote & cream topping:
60ml water
150ml double cream
125g greek yoghurt
3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar
4 tablespoons runny honey
5 plums, washed hulled and chopped
approx 200g blueberries, washed


8. To make the fruit compote, warm the fruit and honey with 60ml water in a small pan over a medium heat, for about 8 minutes or until softened.

9. Strain the mixture using a sieve with a bowl underneath, and make sure you keep the juice from the bowl. Put the fruit to one side to cool.

10. Heat the juice in the saucepan along with the sugar for approx 10 minutes, on a low temperature, until it becomes syrupy. Then take off the heat and leave to cool.

11. Once fruit and syrup are cool, it's time to prepare the creamy topping. In a large bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the fruit syrup into the double cream. Once it has started to thicken, whisk in the greek yoghurt until well combined and the cream is whipped.

12. Spoon creamy mixture over the meringue, and then add the honeyed plums and berries. Finish by drizzling some of the reserved syrup over the top, then serve!

 

 

 

 

This pavlova was idly baked while listening to Nine Horses album Money For All


 

Plum, Almond & Pear Flan

This is the most gorgeous flan, cinnamon laced plums and pears nestling in a plump almond batter. Perfect for an idle baker, it looks much more work than it really is. By baking this as a flan, rather than a tart, you cut out all the fussy pastry making and introduce a delicious biscuit base that adds a satisfying depth and crunch to the taste. It's also one of those puddings that can be made in advance, and brought out to much acclaim when it's time to eat, leaving you free to relax and enjoy yourself rather than slaving over a hot oven.

Adapt this recipe to accomodate whatever fruit you have in the house, using plums or pears alone if you like. If I'd had them I'd have added more plums, as they taste particularly good and look stunning against the almond filling.

Recipe
Adapted from the one online that I printed out years ago, and can't find on the web now
Serves 8-10


for the flan base:
200g digestive biscuits, crushed
85g butter, chopped small

1. To crush the biscuits, seal them in a plastic bag and hit them with a rolling pin. Then place the crushed biscuits on the weighing scales to measure out the right amount.


2. Gently melt the butter over a low heat, before stirring the crushed biscuits into the pan and stirring until they're well combined.


3. Press the mixture into a 9 to 12 inch tart case with a removable base, as you would for a cheesecake.

for the filling:
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
85g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
2 or 3 drops of almond extract
4 or more large plums, halved and cored
1 pear, halved and cored (and peeled if you wish)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
vanilla sugar, to sprinkle
2 tablespoons red or purple plum jam
3 handfuls flaked almonds, toasted



4. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for approx 3 minutes until light and fluffy.


5. Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the drops of almond extract.


6. Next add the flour, milk and ground almonds, mixing well until smooth.


7. Pour the filling over the biscuit base in the tin, and smooth it down.


8. Roll the fruit in the cinnamon on a plate, before placing the plums and pears into the filling. You can either chop them finely and arrange them in concentric circles, or for a more rustic flan like mine you simply place the fruit halves into the filling, pressing them into the batter.


9.  Sprinkle a little vanilla sugar ontop, and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the filling looks pale golden and bounces back under your thumb.


10. Take out of the oven and leave to cool a little, before taking out of the tin.


11. While the flan cools, warm a couple of spoonfuls of plum jam over a low heat and then strain through a sieve. Brush the flan with the strained jam juice, before scattering with flaked almonds.
I didn't bother, but you could also sift a little icing sugar over the flan if you like.


12. Serve warm or cold, with creme fraiche or cream.

This flan was idly baked while listening to London Calling by The Clash

Autumnal Upside Down Plum Cake

Some autumns creep up softly, cautiously, with stealth. This year the turn of the seasons here in the westcountry has been much more out and proud. Most early mornings now a mist hangs over the garden, and despite continuing sunshine the wind begins to bring down leaves from trees all around us. Our fruit trees have been heavy with produce, wild boulis plums vying for attention with the large eating and cooking apples. We managed to pick much of the fruit just as it was starting to fall, drooping heavily on the trees ready to be blown down in the rain.

Fresh fruit in the basket means fresh cake for the idle baker. I've focused my attention here on the plums, as they don't keep as well as apples, and the delicate sweet-sharp flavour comes out best of all when they're a little underripe. Our boulis plums were so tiny, I turned them into syrupy compote, using larger ones from the neighbouring farm shop to create the gorgeous top of this upside-down cake. It's a delectable recipe that is best served warm as a dessert cake, and will have those of you that way inclined calling for the double cream.

Recipe

Serves 8-10

Adapted from the recipe given by Madalene Bonvini-Hamel. See her recipe on her great website www.britishlarder.co.uk here. I just made a few changes to the ingredients and scaled it down to fit my cake tin.

for preparing the cake tin:

about 9 medium sized or 6 large plums, slightly underripe

60g unsalted butter, room temperature

60g light muscovado sugar

1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C Fan ovens). To make the upside-down top of the cake, cover the base of a 20cm round springform baking tin with the softened butter, spreading it so that it's evenly covered. Next throw the sugar ontop, again covering the entire base.

2. Prepare the plums by washing, coring and halving them. Carefully lay the plum halves with their cut side face down over the butter and sugar mixture, trying to pack them in close to eachother, and gently pushing them into the mixture. Then cover the baking tin with a plate and leave it to one side while you make the cake base.

                                         

for the base:

180g light muscovado sugar

180g unsalted butter, room temperature

140g plain flour

3 large eggs

1 tsp baking powder

40g ground almonds

zest of half a lime

half a pinch of salt

3. Mix the butter and sugar together until fluffy and creamed.

4. Next beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.

5. Throw in the lime zest, ground almonds, flour, baking powder and a tiny half pinch of salt, and mix gently into the batter until combined.

6. Pour the cake batter over the prepared plums, sugar and butter in the cake tin. Smooth down the batter with a spatula, and bake in the oven for approx 40-45 minutes. You'll know it's done with the cake base bounces back under your finger and a skewer comes out clean.

7. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, before very carefully, slowly and gently turning the cake out of the tin and sitting it upside down (plums at the top, base at the bottom) on a wire rack to cool a little more. To prevent staining your work surface it's worth placing a kitchen towel under the cake tin as you turn the cake out, because the buttery sugary plum top will be hot sticky and liable to drip.

                              

for the plum syrup:

3 large plums or approx 9 small boulis plums

70g caster sugar

1 stick of cinnamon

8. Prepare the plums for the syrup by washing, coring and halving them as before. If you're using large plums then cut them further into 8.

9. In a small saucepan, melt the plums, sugar and cinnamon stick over a low heat.When it's melted, let the mixture boil gently for a further 5 minutes before taking off the heat leaving to cool for about 20 minutes.

10. While syrup and cake are still warm, pour generous spoonfuls of the syrup over the plum top of the cake and serve with more of the compote syrup.

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of Tricky's album Maxinquaye