
Plum and almond sponge cake
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Easy
- December 2009

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Serves 8
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Takes 25 minutes to make, 50 minutes to cook, plus cooling
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.
- Calories
- 472kcals
- Fat
- 31.6g (12.4g saturated)
- Protein
- 8.7g
- Carbohydrates
- 41g (32.8g sugars)
- Salt
- 0.4g
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
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.
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