Gingery Plum Cake -Happy Labor Day Weekend!

 I can't wait for the 3-day weekend! Hope everybody gets to relax, enjoy, or travel with your beloved ones!

It's not often that you will see baked goodies on I Just Love My Apron's lab. This time is an exception! Why? Because I found a great recipe from a cookbook I checked out at the public library. Yes, I know. I'm an old-fashioned girl who still get books from the library. However, it's convenient, cost-effective, and free of charge! I was first going to skim and scan through appetizer and party ideas until I ran into this recipe. The cake is very moist and fluffy. Plus, ginger and plum sound very Asian to me and I've seen this combination in many food recipes.

Plums make me think of one of my favorite bloggers - Patty from Patty's food. She's a talented baker and a great grandma! I have to say her grand-kids are lucky to get to taste her food and baked goodies so often.

I scanned through the recipe and I almost had everything on hand except plums. That's an easy part; they are in season now. You can keep the cake in a fridge and when you're ready to eat, you just pop it in a microwave for 30 secs. It's also good when serving it with whip cream or a scoop of ice cream!

Gingery Plum Cake

Recipe courtesy of Fine Cooking appetizers

Ingredients for the cake:

1 1/3 cups AP flour
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

Cake batter before going in an oven

Directions for cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Lightly butter or use butter spray on a 9x2-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper that is cut to fit the pan. Lightly flour the sides and tap out the excess. I used the pan that you can lift up the side from the bottom of and that really made the lifting-the-cake part easy.
• In a bowl, mix flour, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In another bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until fluffy for about 3 mins.
• Add eggs one at a time. Beat on medium speed until just blended.
• Add vanilla extract and beat.
• Adjust speed to low or stir, gradually add dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Stop half way and add sour cream, then the remaining dry mixture. Mix until it's blended.
• Scrape the batter into a pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15 mins.

Ingredients for Topping:

1 plum, halved, pitted, and cut into 1/8-1/4 inch slices
2 tsp finely grate fresh ginger
3 Tbs firmly packed light brown sugar
1 Tbs AP flour
Whipped cream or ice cream for garnish

Arrange sliced plums on the cake

Directions for topping:

• While cake is baked, combine sliced plums and ginger in a small bowl. Toss until the ginger is well distributed.
• Add sugar and flour. Use a fork to mix ingredients to coat the fruit evenly.
• After the cake has baked for 15 mins, arrange sliced plums on top of the cake.
• Continue baking for another 35-40 mins. Test it by inserting a toothpick. It should come out clean.
• Let the cake cool on a rack for 15 mins. Run a knife around the edge of the pan. Lay a rack on top of the cake pan and holding onto both pan and rack, invert the cake.
• Peel away the parchment paper.
• Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
• Store in a fridge. When ready to eat, heat it in a microwave for 30 secs. Enjoy!

Serve it with whipped cream or ice cream