Upside down plum cake (and Beerenberg giveaway winner)

With all the crazy rain we've had recently, Warragamba dam has certainly reached its storage capacity. After almost a decade of drought, you would think this a great thing. But we are a land of extremes and after dealing with times of drought the rains have come.

Many people, especially towns out west are cut in half by flood waters. But even the city didn't escape flooding and this past week saw a traffic nightmare throughout Sydney due to roads cut off by water.


While we live up fairly high, our main access road crosses the Hawkesbury River. This is our main road in and out. The only other option is to go further up the mountains crossing them and doing a loop that would take 2 to 3 hours. So on hearing the news last Friday that the bridge over the hawkesbury was due to be closed, both Mr Shady Pine and I dashed home from work not wanting to be cut off and be subjected to the alternate long drive home.


What I didn't expect was such a panic from people. I stopped in at our closest supermarket on my way home to get some extra supplies in case the bridge was closed for several days and was faced with mayhem. People were everywhere cleaning out the shelves. I felt like I was on the set of a disaster movie. So I grabbed the essentials and high tailed out of there as quick as I could.

In the end the bridge was only closed for a day as the flooding wasn't as severe as predicted. But while it was closed I did enjoy a sense of being cut off from the world for a little while. I pottered around the house. I thought about how we would get on if we were completely cut off for a long time. I figured from the supplies in our pantry, freezer and garden we would probably have enough food to feed us for a month easily.


I also baked. With lots of stranded neighbours I figured I would have a cake on standby for any visits. I had exactly 4 plums in the fruit bowl and this recipe called for 4-5. This cake is a really lovely balance between the fruity plums and cake batter. Also, because the plums are spread out on the bottom of the cake tin with sugar, they turn really jammy, sticky and delicious when the cake is turned out.

I am also pleased to announce that Sarah from From my Vegie Patch to Plate is the winner of the Beerenberg giveaway draw....congratulations Sarah!



Upside down plum cake
Adapted from cake recipe here

Ingredients:
4 plums
1 cup plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
60g butter
¾ cup sugar (preferably raw caster sugar)
½ cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Line the base of a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper.
3. Sprinkle 2 Tbs of sugar on the base. Arrange the plums in a circular pattern on top of the sugar and covering the base of the tin.
4. In a mixing bowl, mix the butter, vanilla, sugar and egg with a mixer until the sugar has dissolved.
5. To the butter mixture, add the flour, baking powder, bicarb and milk and mix well with a wooden spoon to make a smooth batter.
6. Spoon the cake batter over the top of the plums ensuring the batter is well spread out.
7. Bake for 25 minutes. The cake will be cooked when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow the cake to cook for 5 minutes in the tin before turning it out.
9. This cake is best served warm with a dollop of cream if desired.