Tuscan Plum Tart

I was in Super Valu yesterday and they had punnets of plums for 50 cent. As I love a bargain and with this Tuscan Plum Tart in mind, I bought 2 punnets to make an afternoon treat. This is a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks - Darina Allen's Ballymaloe Cookery Course. I first tasted this tart after a spicy meal while on a course with Rachel Allen in Ballymaloe. It is quite a light dessert, very moist, and lovely served hot with a blob of cream, but equally delicious cold with a cuppa. It is very easy to make but looks very impressive. You need a frying pan that can be used in the oven as on a ring. I have a heavy-based frying pan, about 25cm or 10in that I use for this recipe.

Tuscan Plum Tart

Ingredients
275g (10oz) sugar
150ml (5fl oz) water
900g (2lb) plums
150g (5oz) soft butter
175g (6oz) sugar
200g (7oz) self-raising flour
3 eggs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Put the sugar and water into the pan.
3. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then cook without stirring until the sugar caramelises to a golden brown.
4. Meanwhile half and stone the plums, carefully arrange cut side down in a single layer over the caramel (this will be the top of the cake when it is cooked).
5. Put the butter, sugar and flour into the bowl of an electric food processor, whiz for a couple of seconds, then add the eggs and stop as soon as the mixture comes together. (If you don’t have a food processor, just cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one by one, then mix in the flour).
6. Spread the mixture in an even layer over the plums in the pan.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 50mins-one hour.
8. The centre should be firm to the touch and the edges slightly shrunk from the sides of the pan.
9. Run a knife around the edges to make sure it has not stuck anywhere.
10. Leave it to sit for 3 or 4 minutes before turning out.
11. Serve with whipped cream or crème fraiche.