back to school, join hands for the fall

[harborshore]

So it's September. School starts today (English for Academic Research--yes, it's a mandatory course), I turn 25 in 10 days (this feels less daunting than it did last week, which is nice), and my cat has decided to make up for the malfunctioning heater in my room by lying on my feet. Things are--I don't know, I like life today. I've edited someone else's story (♥), I've eaten a stellar breakfast consisting of unsweetened yoghurt, shredded apples, cereal and lemon zest, and made a chicken sandwich from last night's leftovers.

Also, last night I made Dimply Plum Cake from the plums my grandmother brought over. As much as the end of summer is a little sad, the fact that fall means harvest makes up for a hell of a lot.





Honestly, I don't care that some of the plums sank into the cake, giving it a somewhat interesting (read: lopsided and scrunchy) look. This was amazing. I made it with lemon zest instead of orange zest, because I don't like it when cakes get too sweet, and it worked out so, so well. I took it out about two minutes too early, so it was still slightly unbaked in the middle, but that also meant the edges weren't dry. And oh man, this cake was seriously fantastic.

So. If you have plums or any other tart fruit and you don't know how to get rid of it all, make this. I'd say adjust the spices a little if you use sweet fruit (the recipe suggests substituting peaches, for instance), but I'm sure it can be made to work for that as well.


ETA: I like my mandatory course! Sweet.

Also, leave it to Mikeyway to post the most hilarious response to the Oasis situation (someone write me Noel Gallagher as Terminator, quick! *giggles helplessly*). He's kind of my favorite, that one. (Mikey, not Noel.) Kind of a lot.

Comments

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

Wow, our birthdays are very close together! I turn 27 in 28 days. :)

That cake looks delicious. I love everything about autumn: the colors, the smells, and most importantly, the food!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

September children are awesome, truefax.

The fooooood. We don't get enough of the proper autumn colors here, the leaves tend to go from pale yellow to brown, but when I lived in the US, I loved the fall colors, my god.

[strange-bt-true.livejournal.com]

BIRTHDAY HIGH FIVE! I... get more excited by other people's birthdays than I do about my own? Idk, but I have a good feeling about yours.

Now, I'm going to go forage for baked goods. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

You are the most adorable, always. *grins* I don't know if I'm excited for this one, but I'm less unhappy about it than I thought I would be?

I AM THRILLED. PS. How did it turn out?

[strange-bt-true.livejournal.com]

So, listen, I think you deserve a medal or something, for posting that recipe. I want to marry it, and have it with me forever, it turned out so great. I used a tiny bit of nutmeg, and brandy, and lemon zest instead of orange. Brilliant. Everyone was peering into to oven doubtfully while it was baking ("but, like, why is there fruit on it? is it meant to look like that?") but now it's all gone. It's been all gone for a while now, and everybody went back for more and I am just so pleased. (And stuffed. I ate an actual dinner with actual dessert to follow! FOOD, FINALLY! \o/) :D

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Is it not the best thing of all good things? My dad had two pieces before he even managed to say anything at all, and then he looked rapturous and assured me he loved it and had another piece. It's like magic, I swear. And I'm convinced the lemon zest is better than orange zest, for real, because it's a little less sweet, yeah? YAY FOOD indeed. *beams*

[strange-bt-true.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced that it's made of magic. My mom went from "I don't really like sweets" to "is there more? BRING ME ANOTHER PIECE" which was awesome. I love that it isn't too sweet, the lemon zest was definitely a good idea. :D

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Magic cake! \o/ It's also super-good the day after, btw. I mean, in case you make a bigger batch next time. I think I'm going to double the recipe tomorrow; we have a lot of plums to get rid of.

I'm so thrilled to hear your modifications worked so well, it makes me want to experiment a lot more with different fruits and flavorings, oh man. What kind of plums did you end up using? I mean, what color were they?

[strange-bt-true.livejournal.com]

I was really worried, especially about the vanilla. I don't know how much impact the nutmeg had (I probably used somewhere between an eighth and a quarter of a teaspoon because I didn't want it too overpowering?) and I used a bit more lemon zest than the recipe called for, but it all went super. Next time, I think I'll add a little more cinnamon? Also, I used red plums! Here's a link to a picture, mine looked exactly like that. http://z.about.com/d/localfoods/1/0/N/6/-/-/RedPlumsSantaRosa.jpg

I think doubling the recipe is a good idea, considering how fast this one went!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Red plums! I used red plums too. And the nutmeg probably had a little bit of an impact--it's the kind of thing you don't want to notice, because then it's all you can taste. Oooh, a bit more cinnamon, yes.

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

Thank for all your help today, love. You are an invaluable cheerleader/beta/friend-of-all-trades. ♥

Your cake looks SO GOOD. As good as I usually am in the kitchen, I'm a pretty faily baker. Which means that you'll just have to be in charge of cakes when we finally get that commune going. :)

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

♥, darling. I'm glad I could help.

I find this so fascinating! It's the same thing! :D But I'll gladly be responsible for cakes in our commune. I love baking a lot.

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

I've actually heard a few other people say the same thing, about cooking vs. baking. Baking is hard! You should teach me your secrets. :)

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

I suppose I just started with baking, so the whole cooking thing always seemed like the same thing to me. You know, you have a recipe and follow it. *grins* But I suppose baking depends more on being really strict about certain things. What do you find difficult about it? (It's one of my favorite things to do, so if you don't want me to babble about it, you should say so.)

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

That might be part of my problem with baking, actually, that everything has to be so precise or things just don't turn out right. I'm very much a little-of-this, little-of-that kind of cook. :)

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Hee, well, I can't help much with that except to advice to start with a super-simple muffins recipe or something, because the flavoring of muffins can be modified, so you'd still get your little-of-this, little-of-that, even while figuring out how to stay close to the rest of the recipe.

[wasoncedelight.livejournal.com]

That's a good idea! If I can master muffins (hee, MASTER OF MUFFINS), then I can try something a little more difficult.

[modillian.livejournal.com]

Liking life is a good mindset to be in. And om nom nom. Mmmm fall cooking. You made a fruit cake that's not a fruitcake and it looks good.

Yesterday I made stuffed peppers for the first time ever because I wanted to try something new. They were pretty good, but I think I like stuffed tomatoes better. Mmmm, late summer tomatoes. *.*

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

It was, oh man. As I said above here, it's kind of magical and fantastic. The best recipe I've tried in a while, definitely.

Oh man, stuffed tomatoes are amazing. And barbecued tomatoes. And, well, I just really like tomatoes, particularly right now. Mmmmm.