Plum and cardamom sweet bread

Do you have a recipe that you return to every year? This is my September cake. That's when Italian plums are available here and I look forward to this recipe for the other 11 months. I've never tried it with the imported plums that are available all year round, and I don't intend to. This is so good that it's worth the wait. I've made it twice this month already, and may try to make it again before the local plums disappear. When you are putting the thick batter in the pan, it will seem like the heaviest cake ever, but the cake bakes up sweet, with a soft crumb and pockets of tart fruit.

This cake has cardamom, and I think cardamom and plums are the best match ever. I may be biased, though, because my friend Judy says I think cardamom goes with everything. It does. It goes with everything I like, so there! I made a small loaf and a few large cupcakes with the first batch, and a 9" cake with the second batch. As you can see, I didn't get much fruit in the cupcakes, but the loaf had lots.

Okay, there are only 10 days of September left--go make this cake! Here's the recipe:

Plum and Cardamom Sweet Bread

from In the Sweet Kitchen, by Regan Daley

Makes one 9”x5” loaf

¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup tightly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom

¾ cup full-fat sour cream

2 cups diced Italian/prune plums

1.     Preheat the oven to 350℉, grease the loaf pan and line it with parchment. I have also made this in a smaller loaf pan, with a few extra cupcakes, or in a 9” round pan.  Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla.

2.     Reserve 2 tablespoons of the flour and sift the remaining with the baking powder, soda, salt and cardamom. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream in two additions. Toss the plums with the reserved flour and fold them into the batter, mixing only until the plums are evenly distributed. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

3.     Bake the loaf in the centre of the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until a wooden skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. Cool the loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove it and cool completely. This cake keeps well at room temperature for a few days, but I doubt it’ll last that long.