Family Recipe: Plum Cake

[msviolaceous.livejournal.com]

This recipe has to be at least 25 years old, because that's how old I am, and my mom made this since I was a child. She got it from her grandmother, or was it her great-grandmother? It's so old that the key ingredient isn't made anymore, in fact. I use apple-prune baby food as a substitute, though it doesn't seem as plummy as the cake of my childhood. Sometimes the organic baby foods have different flavors from the conventional, so check out both when shopping to find the best substitute or even try new flavors.

2 C self-rising flour
2 C sugar
3 eggs
1 C vegetable oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla
8 oz plum baby food

Cream eggs, sugar and oil. Sift dry ingredients together and incorporate gradually with a mixer. Grease a bundt pan and sprinkle with flour. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. As soon as the cake is cool enough to handle, invert it onto a serving platter and poke it all over with a fork. Spoon on the glaze (recipe below).

Glaze:
1 C powdered sugar
juice and zest of one lemon
Mix until no longer lumpy.

Comments

[acexkeikai.livejournal.com]

They still sell the Plum baby food... they sometimes call it prune baby food.
I shall have to try this cake as I love prunes... yeah I know I am weird.

[floundah.livejournal.com]

No you're not. I love prunes too.

[acexkeikai.livejournal.com]

Even prune juice? I drink that for the flavor ^^;;

[floundah.livejournal.com]

You can have the prune juice.

Pasteurized juice is a funny thing: I like pineapples, tomatoes, and prunes. However, I hate the juice. I also despise V8 juice even though I love my veggies. It's almost bearable if you add a squeeze of fresh lime to it.

You know what makes me weird? Dates. I don't like them. Too mealy and icky sweet. Now that's weird because everyone likes dates. :)

[colonoscarpeay.livejournal.com]

I don't like dates either.

Sorry, didn't mean to cut in on your conversation. I just saw the word weird and dates. ;)

[floundah.livejournal.com]

You're not cutting in at all. Anyway, that makes two people who don't like dates vs everyone else. :)

[colonoscarpeay.livejournal.com]

;)

It's us against the world! LOL

[acexkeikai.livejournal.com]

mmm I dislike those dried up dates but I really love fresher ones... There's a few that come from iran that are really really good. They are less mealy but just as sweet though... if not more. Like the Medzoulh dates.

[floundah.livejournal.com]

If they're that sweet, I probably still would not like them, though I'd certainly try one if I had a chance. I love sweet things but have my limits. For example, I love pecans but don't like pecan pie.

This recipe sounds tasty. Msviolaceous mentions below that it might also be good with apricots, so that version sounds like it's worth a try too.

[colonoscarpeay.livejournal.com]

This sounds very yummy!
I love plums so that's a plus for me.

Snagging the recipe to try. Thanks, hun!

[carriepika.livejournal.com]

I'd be willing to bet it'd work just as well if you bought some plums, skinned and pitted them, and then put them through the blender until they were smooth, like the consistency of baby food. It might even have a better flavour, since it'd be fresh fruit? I'm tempted to give it a shot on my own now! =3

[msviolaceous.livejournal.com]

You'd have to be pretty careful of the moisture content, since the baby food is mixed into the cake rather than being used as a filling or some such. Somehow, though, the processed, "cooked" flavor of the baby food plays really well with the cloves and other spices. I dunno if fresh fruit would have the same character. They also have those home baby food maker thingies now, if someone has one of those that could make for great experimentation. Apricots would be good too.

[outsdr.livejournal.com]

This is the first recipe I've seen that uses baby food!