One Perfect Bite's Plum Buckle

I love reading Mary's One Perfect Bite. She has a fabulous mix of ethnic and traditional recipes, wonderfully photographed and written up. The day after I discovered my parent's Italian plum tree was loaded with fruit Mary posted this recipe for a plum buckle.

I doubled the recipe to make a 9x13 pan because I planned to bring it to work to share with my coworkers. When the cake came out of the oven, Justin took a huge slice and announced that this cake wasn't going ANYWHERE!  (Sorry co-workers!). This is from a man who doesn't like dessert. Needless to say, the huge pan disappeared quickly. I made it again for Yom Kipper dinner and it was received with equal zeal from my family.

This recipe is a hit and had to share it for those who don't yet know about Mary's blog.

Recipe re-posted with permission.
Some days the cake bakes in less than an hour, other days it takes more time. I suspect the amount of moisture in the fruit explains the discrepancy but you'll be fine, as long as you keep the cake in the oven until you are sure its center is set. This is a cake that is best served warm and eaten on the day it is made. It stales quickly. This is a treasure that I hope you will try. Here's the recipe.

Plum Buckle...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Sunset Magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of 1 small lemon
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup milk
4 cups sliced unpeeled firm-ripe plums (about 4 large)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground mace

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter an 8 x 8 x 2-inch pyrex pan. Set aside.
2) Combine butter and 1 cup sugar in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat at high speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon peel.
3) Combine flour, baking powder,salt and nutmeg in another bowl. Whisk to combine. Stir half the flour mixture into butter mixture , then add milk followed with remainder of flour mixture. Stir just until incorporated. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Overlap plum slices on top of batter. Combine reserved 2 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon and mace. Sprinkle over plums.
4) Bake in a 325 degree oven until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes (it may take longer than this) . Serve warm or at room temperature. Yield: 9 servings.