Plum & Almond Cake with Vanilla Whipped Mascarpone

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

• 110g butter plus extra for greasing
• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 2 large free range eggs
• 210g plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cardamom
• 6 plums, sliced in half
• 50g flaked almonds
• Honey to drizzle

For the vanilla mascarpone:

• 250g of mascarpone
• 2 tbsp of icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with a removable base with parchment paper.
2. While the oven is preheating, slice the plums in half and remove the stone. Place in a baking tray and sprinkle with some caster sugar and a couple of tablespoons of water. Roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Cover with tinfoil halfway through cooking.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until they are incorporated. Fold through the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom and cinnamon until you have a thick cake batter.
4. Once the fruit is roasted, remove from the oven and roughly chop half of the plums to mix through the cake batter. Set the other half aside to press into the batter when it is in the tin.
5. Stir through the chopped plums and pour the batter into the cake tin. The batter is thick so use a spatula to spread across the base of the tin.
6. Gently press the plum halves into the batter and sprinkle with the almonds. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Cover with tin foil if you find the almonds brown too much.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and generously sprinkle with icing sugar
8. For the vanilla mascarpone, mix together the mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla bean paste.
9. Serve generous slices of the cake with a dollop of the vanilla mascarpone.