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Plum and almond sponge cake

Published: 30 Nov 09
Updated: 18 Mar 24

A gloriously moist cake, this plum, marzipan and almond sponge can be drizzled with icing for a teatime treat or served warm with cream as an indulgent pud. It gets bonus points for being freezable, too.

See our plum and custard cake, too.

Easy
December 2009

Test kitchen approved

Serves 8
Takes 25 minutes to make, 50 minutes to cook, plus cooling

See our plum and custard cake, too.

Freezable

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 472kcals
Fat: 31.6g (12.4g saturated)
Protein: 8.7g
Carbohydrates: 41g (32.8g sugars)
Salt: 0.4g

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Ingredients

200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
200g golden caster sugar
4 large free-range eggs
100g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
130g ground almonds
50g roasted hazelnuts, chopped
120g golden marzipan, chopped
500g (about 12) ripe plums, stoned and cut into quarters
20g flaked almonds, toasted
60g icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

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Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Lightly grease a 23cm square tin that’s 5cm deep and line the base with baking paper.
In a big bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a hand-held electric whisk until pale, light and fluffy, then gradually add the eggs, whisking between each addition (add a little flour if the mix starts to curdle). Sift over the flour and baking powder, add the ground almonds and fold in gently with a big spoon. Fold in the hazelnuts and marzipan.
Pour the mix into the tin and scatter the plum quarters over, pushing them down a little into the mixture. Bake for 50 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Scatter with the flaked almonds.

Cool a little in the tin and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap well in baking paper and cling film before freezing for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly.
For the lemon icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the lemon juice and stir to a single-cream consistency. Use a teaspoon or piping bag to drizzle the icing over the cake, then cut into squares and serve as a teatime treat. Alternatively, omit the icing, wrap in foil and warm in the oven for about 10 minutes at 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Serve warm as a pudding, with cream.