Enjoying a fall harvest find: Olive Oil Ricotta Cake with Italian Plums

Available briefly in the fall, Italian plums are the star of this simple, sweet cake. Recipe below.

I LOVE FALL. I love breaking out the turtlenecks and the sweaters, and watching the leaves turn, and even the bittersweet moment when I put away my beloved sandals and shift to my beloved boots. I love how the cat’s fur gets thicker, and the rosebushes in the garden surprise us with a few last, gorgeous, huge flowers, and Terry gleans what remains of the basil for a couple last batches of pesto. It is all so melodic. And part of the melody of this time of year for me is that brief moment when we can get Italian plums.

This year, we came back from Montreal with a big bag of lovely Italian plums, bought at the Marché Atwater, and then the fun part was figuring out what to do with them. Here at Blue Kitchen, we’ve used Italian plums, also called prune plums, a bunch of times, in savory dishes and in desserts, and really I am not sure which recipe is my favorite. While I would have been perfectly happy to use any of our familiars, I thought it would be nice to try something different. It didn’t take long to come across this.

This easy, sweet cake appears in many forms online and was perfected by Deb Perelman for her wonderful The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Of course, ours is a variation, but only slightly. And the next time I make this, I’m going to try it with dried cherries or fresh blueberries.

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Olive Oil Ricotta Cake with Italian Plums

Available briefly in the fall, Italian plums are the star of this simple, sweet cake.

Servings 6 to 8 slices

Equipment

• 9-inch springform pan

Ingredients

• a pat of butter for the pan
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup ricotta cheese (full fat is ideal, but use what you can find)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus more for the pan
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9-12 ripe, sweet Italian plums, cut in half and stoned (see Kitchen Notes)
• powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF, with a rack in the middle. Butter and flour the springform pan.
• Next, break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk them until they are uniform. Add in the ricotta, olive oil, sugar and the vanilla, and stir together until all is smooth and even.
• Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a separate bowl and stir together with a fork. Sift the dry ingredients over the ricotta mixture, then fold everything together carefully just until it is all mixed together. Don't stir aggressively—you don’t want the gluten to develop, which will make the cake tough.
• Scrape the batter into the springform pan and smooth it out to level the surface. Put the prunes on top, cut side down and evenly spaced, and push them into the batter just slightly.
• Slide the cake pan into the oven and set a timer for 35 minutes—note that this may take up to 50 minutes, depending on your oven. The cake will be ready when it is uniformly golden on top, a tester inserted near the center comes out clean, and the edges are just pulling away from the sides of the pan.
• Put the pan on a rack and let the cake cool for 15 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge to loosen things and pop off the springform ring. Let the cake finish cooling.
• If you like, serve this with a dusting of powdered sugar. Lovely.

Kitchen Notes

Are your plums less than sweet? You can still use them—toss with a couple of teaspoons of sugar just before putting them on the top of the cake.