Plum and ricotta cake is a lovely mixture of flavourful spiced plums, and is delicately flavoured with lemon zest and vanilla and topped with the light crunch of flaked almonds. It is light with a slightly more dense texture than other lemon cakes. The blend of the spicy plums is perfect for the moist, rich tasting ricotta cake.

I particularly love spiced stewed plums. The season has ended for plums so I have indulged myself by stewing the last few from my fridge. The result is a compote of sweet plums in a thick, rich and spicy syrup that is so delicious and perfect for the topping for this cake.

If plums are not in season where you live, other fruit could be substituted like peaches, nectarines or apricots. Raspberry compote could also substitute for the slight tang of plums in this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 plums, halved and cut into segments
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 300 ml water
• 150 g butter, melted and cooled
• 250g ricotta
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups Self Raising flour
• flaked almonds

Method:

Stewed Plums:

1. Bring water, sugar, cloves and cinnamon to the boil, stirring till sugar dissolves.

2. Place plum segments into the syrup and allow to return to the boil and then lower the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes

3. When cooked remove from the heat and allow the plums to cool

4. When the the plums are cold, lift them with a slotted spoon to drain and place onto a plate and set aside

The delicious thick spicy plum syrup can be reduced to thicken it further to serve over ice cream or cream accompanying the cake

Making the Cake:

5. Pre heat oven to 170C and line a 20cm springform tin with baking paper and butter the sides and sprinkle with fine breadcrumbs to coat

6. Using a Kitchen Wizz or other stand mixer, place ricotta, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla into the bowl and process for 4 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved

7. Add each egg, lightly beaten, through the feed tube and process for 5 seconds

8. Slowly pour cooled, melted butter through the feed tube and process it is incorporated well

9. Add the sifted flour in batches to the mixture and process each for a few seconds till all the flour is incorporated. The resulting mixture will be stiff but soft.

10. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin and level the surface using a spatula

11. Working quickly, place the stewed plum segments over the top of the cake batter

12. Sprinkle over lightly with cinnamon sugar

13. Scatter over the flaked almonds

14. Place the cake into the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes then check how the cake is browning and test with a skewer. Bake for another 10-20 minutes, loosely covering the cake with foil if browning too quickly. A skewer should come out cleanly when fully cooked

15. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the baking tin

16. Then release the cake from the springform tin, remove it and allow to cool fully on a rack

17. Serve with double cream or ice cream and some stewed plums and thickened syrup