German Plum Cake

275 g softened butter
250 g sugar
200 g plain flour
200 g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
100ml milk
1 cup ground almonds or fresh breadcrumbs
20 ripe blood plums, halved and stoned

TOPPING

125 g butter
200 g sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 180 deg C and lightly grease a 28 cm spring form tin. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in flours and salt. Add eggs and milk to make a soft dough ( the mixture should drop easily from the spoon.) Spoon batter into prepared tin (it should not fill more than a quarter of the depth as the cake rises a great deal) then sprinkle over ground almonds. Arrange plums, cut-side up, on top,starting around outside edge and working towards centre. (Have one yourself as they are delicious.)

To make the topping, melt the butter and stir in the sugar and cinnamon, then allow to cool. Whisk eggs well and stir into cooled butter mixture. Spoon over and around plums on top of cake. Bake for 1 hour, and test with a skewer that the cake is cooked in the centre.

Serve warm with cream or ice-cream. Any leftover cake can be warmed up, wrapped in foil in the oven at 180 deg. C for 15 minutes.

There won't be much left over though, I assure you.

Thanks Stephanie Alexander, this is a brilliant recipe.