I have seen this clipping from the New York Times for years. It has hung around the house, been carried back and forth from one house to another, and been made hundreds of times. I want to send deep gratitude to the NYT for their wonderful columns over the years with dozens of amazing recipes. Especially this one!
Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C
Butter a 9 inch springform pan. I like to add a piece of parchment paper on the bottom cut to fit.
Cream:
3/4 cup sugar
½ cup butter
Mix together in q bowl:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
Add flour and eggs alternately to butter and sugar.
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract – the original recipe didn’t call for it, but I think it adds a lot.
Put the resulting batter into the buttered springform pan.
You will also need:
6-8 plums, more if small, cut in half. You can also substitute other fruits, and it is still fantastic.
sugar, lemon juice, and/or cinnamon for topping
Place plum halves, skin side up, on top of the batter. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and lemon juice depending on the sweetness of the fruit. Sprinkle with 1 tsp cinnamon.
Bake at 350 F for one hour, and cool before eating. You can also freeze it and serve it frozen. This year – 2016 – in our Chinese “Tomato” brand oven, I found it took less time, like maybe 50 minutes, so keep your eye on it.