Plum Cake

Thanks a lot weather for turning cold on me. Just because it is autumn doesn't mean it has to be wet and cold. Okay so we have had a few sunny days and I have to admit that I've been away to Melbourne and then spent an entire 2 weeks in my garden doing a big renovation project. 

I'm dreaming of some fab warm sunny days, sipping tea on the verandah and watching the glorious leaves changing colour. So damn and blast I just have to make a cake, even though I 'm trying to give up sugar.

Plums are on their last legs and we will just have to be content with apples and pears and citrus fruit until the whole darn weather recycles itself and comes back to spring.

Fabulous time of year (if it stops peeing with rain). I've done a quick scout of my neighbourhood and I've brought you the best of the autumn show.

Here are some Fabulous Facts about Deciduous Trees.

 - Leaves fall off trees in winter because a layer of cork grows across the leaf stalk gradually cutting off its water supply.

-  Physiological changes in the leaf produce outstanding autumn colours.  Short, warm days and cool nights produce pigments which develop into the wonderful autumn colours. Carotenoid pigment gives yellow, orange and brown and bright reds and purples are from anthocyanin pigments. 

- Red and purple leaves are actually caused by the presence of sugars from sap that is trapped inside of the leaves.

- If you live very close to the Equator, you will not experience autumnal colours.

- Plums are an autumnal fruit and you should find the last of them in the shops now.

So dash out and buy a few because this may be your last chance this season to make this cake.

PLUM CAKE

Ingredients

1/4 cup (60g) caster sugar
115g butter
1 cup (125g) plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
4 plums, pitted and quartered
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Rice Malt Syrup
pinch salt
1 - 2 teaspoons caster sugar

Preheat oven to 170º fan forced.

Beat sugar and butter together until nice and creamy.

Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl and gently incorporate into the creamed mixture.

Pour batter into a greased springform cake tin, approx 20 cms in size.

Place the quartered plums, cut side up into the batter, pressing down slightly.
Sprinkle  the plums with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven for 40 - 50 minutes.

Cool for 5 to 10 minutes then take out of the tin and cool completely on a cake rack or serve warm with yoghurt.

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Pizza or Pissaladière?

I am sitting, quietly thinking, enjoying the last weeks of warm weather. As the trees turn their autumn colours, leaves slowly drifting off their branches and hurried along by wind gusts, its hard to imagine that summer is over so soon. I will welcome the winter this year because we have had so little rain. Gardens are dying and animals have no feed in their paddocks. Cattle and sheep are being fed on hay, a big expense for farmers, but what is the alternative?

It has been dry enough to send brown snakes up to the house and Blue Tongue lizards out from their shrubbery: koalas drinking water from containers put out by caring neighbours, it is the driest period in 38 years.

Early mornings have the autumn air and soon there will be heaters and sweaters and wooly hats and thick soups to take the chill off any outdoor pursuits. But until then lets enjoy what mother nature provides, the warmth of the sun and the colours of a rainbow.

I've just been looking at photographs taken a couple of years ago in France and the gardens are so beautiful and the countryside is so green; I 'm reminded of Brie and French Onion Soup and truffles, so tonight I am going to settle on a French dish!

Do you know the difference between a Pizza and a Pissaladière? If you are not sure then here is a simple explanation. Pissaladière is the French equivalent of an Italian pizza without cheese.

If you drop in to any bakery in the Provence region of France, you are sure to find a version of this. A Pissaladière is full of creamy onions, anchovies and olives. While it is a simple dish the onions must be slowly cooked in butter so they do not brown but become deliciously soft and buttery and melt in the mouth.

Here's a recipe for you to try, loosely based on a recipe of Marie Claire.

While I was hunting around at French Language Courses, I stumbled upon this blog.http://www.frenchmoments.eu/category/blog.

There are some beautiful photographs of France and especially Paris. It is worth taking a look and I am excited to think that I will be visiting Paris later in the year. 

Pissaladière

DOUGH

2 cups plain flour - I use 00 flour
1 teaspoon  dried yeast
3/4 cup warm water
pinch sugar
1/4 cup olive oil

FILLING

1 kilo brown onions finely sliced
125 grams butter
anchovies
black olives
fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Starting with the dough - place the flour, sugar, yeast into a bowl. Add oil to the water and mix then add to the dry ingredients. Bring the dough together. Knead for a few minutes until the dough becomes soft and smooth. Cover and leave in a warm place until it doubles in size.

To make the filling. Slice the onions finely. Add butter to a frypan and add the onions and fresh thyme. Cook on a very low heat for around 1 - 1.5 hours until the onions are transparent and very very soft. Do not allow them to brown. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Once the pastry has risen, roll out to a rectangle on to some parchment paper about 40 cm x 30 cms . Place on a baking tray. Brush the pastry with a little olive oil and add all of the onions spreading over the entire surface. Next add the anchovies, which have been cut in half lengthways, in a cross pattern. (see picture) Add black olives. Set aside and allow to stand for another 20 - 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 220º degrees C/200 fan forced and cook the Pissaaladiere for 15 - 20 minutes, until the dough is crisp and brown and the onions have some colour. Turn onto a cutting board and cut into pieces. Enjoy with a green salad and a glass of red wine.