Tuesday, September 23, 2008

TWD: rosey plum cake


The recipe for this week was a dimply plum cake. As soon as I saw it, I thought of the Martha Stewart nectarine tart, and thought I had to make pretty plums too! I was a little worried about the effect that slicing the plums would have, but a quick check of the Q&A assured me that they were quite alright when sliced.


So, onward I went! I must have had fairly large plums, because I only needed 9 halves/5 plums (although I suppose that I could have squeezed more in if I had been determined to). It came together very easily, and the cake baked up nicely around the plum rosettes (although I still think they looked prettier before baking). I did include the cardamom (because it was already in my cabinet - I probably wouldn't have gone to the store just for this, and it was nice to use up some of a spice that I rarely use... perhaps because I have little idea of how to use it). I thought the resulting cake was yummy, if a little rich.


Unfortunately, I bought the plums (at perfect ripeness when I purchased them) a few days before I was able to get around to actually making the cake. So, the plums were a bit past ripe, and didn't taste as wonderful as I'm sure this should. Still, it was fun, and the cake was worth eating out from around the plums. ;)

22 comments:

CB said...

Gorgeous presentation! Love the rosey plum cake. Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Anonymous said...

That is so pretty!

TeaLady said...

I only have one word for your cake. WOWIE!!! Those roses are beautiful and they make the cake look so elegant. Beautiful job.

Unknown said...

Wow, beautiful! That must have taken some serious patience to put together. Good job!

Susan @ SGCC said...

That cake is stunning! It's a little work of art. What a clever idea to make plum "roses"! Well done!

Shelby said...

Beautiful!

Christine said...

Gorgeous the plum roses look amazing! Great cake!

The Food Librarian said...

How beautiful! I have looked at Martha's nectarine tart all summer and never tried it. This is so pretty!!! Great job (and good luck planning the baby shower with miniature food - yours are going to ROCK!)

Hayley said...

That is so beautiful, I have that book and I have to say I think yours looks better than Martha's! It looks so much more effective with a few roses, what a fantastic idea for 'a dozen roses' (well almost!) on Valentine's day xx

Anonymous said...

OH MY!! Of all the cakes I've seen (and I think I've seen them all on the blogroll), yours is by far the most beautiful. I'd never have thought of that.

Marija said...

WOW! Your cake is so beautiful! Wonderful idea!

Elizabeth said...

Thanks everyone! I was really surprised at how quickly it came together. The roses were actually very fast - each one was exactly one half of a plum (minus the ends).

Engineer Baker said...

I love when people make flowers out of fruit - it just looks so beautiful. Great job!

Anonymous said...

Wow. That looks like art. Fantastic!

vibi said...

Frankly, I can't think of any word strong enough to describe how beautiful this is...

You must have inherited the plum fairy's fingers, Elizabeth! ...golden fairy fingers!

Elizabeth said...

Vibi: That made my day! I want to prance around touching things with golden fairy fingers!

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, I've been meaning to try rosettes. Stunning! What a great idea.

Jaime said...

wow, yours is one of the prettiest ones i have seen so far!

Bungalow Barbara said...

O.M.G. Amazing! How did you do that? Do you have a link to a how-to or anything? Fabulous!

Elizabeth said...

Thanks guys!

I have a list of baking projects planned for this week, but per requests, I'll try to have a tutorial on fruit roses up later this week.

Megan said...

Yours is the best looking one I've seen. Can't wait for the tutoeial!

Anonymous said...

What a creative presentation! I can't believe how pretty it is!! Even if it didn't taste as good as you had hoped - the appearance is top notch! Nicely done!