Plum and Almond Shortcake
I created this recipe as a cross between two that I love: Raspberry and white chocolate shortcake crossed with lemon, coconut & plum cake. I changed the coconut for almonds, because it keeps the beautiful buttery texture in the shortcake. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Yield: 16 pieces. 20 x 20cm slice pan
Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
300g Butter, softened *(this recipe works well with margarine to make it dairy free)
300g Caster Sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp Vanilla essence
2 Small eggs (room temperature)
425g Plain flour
75g Ground almonds
2 ½ tsp Baking powder
850g tin Black Doris plums, drained and stones removed.
½ cup Flaked almonds
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, bake.
Line a 20 x 20cm baking pan with greaseproof paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs, 1 at a time until smooth.
Add vanilla and stir to combined.
Stir in ground almonds.
Sift flour and baking powder together then mix into butter mixture until just combined. You want to make sure the flour is just fully combined and then stop mixing. This will make sure the dough stays light and soft when baked.
Press 2/3 of mixture into the lined pan. Lightly flour your fingers to avoid the dough mixture sticking to your fingers.
Top with drained plum pieces (with the stones removed!)
The remaining 1/3 of the mixture goes on top. To do this there are two options:
The full cover (as pictured): Take 2 pieces of baking paper just larger than your slice pan. Lightly flour one piece of baking paper, place the dough in the centre and press flat. Lightly flour the top of the dough and place the second piece of baking paper on top. Use a rolling pin to roll out between the papers to the size of your tin (20x20cm). Check at regular intervals that the paper isn’t sticking to the dough. If you notice it starts to stick then sprinkle with a little more flour. Once you’ve reached the desired size remove one side of the baking paper. Flip over on top of the plums then peel off the second piece of baking paper – voila you have your topping. If the dough feels soft and you’re unsure about flipping it over, you can place in the fridge for 10 – 20mins to firm up and this will make it much easier to place on top.
The Rustic look: Simply take small amounts of mixture (approx. 1tsp) and dot it on top of the plums.
Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the flaked almonds on top, then bake a further 10-15mins until golden and when a skewer is inserted into the centre there is no almond batter stuck to it (there will be plums! The almond batter is the part to pay attention to)
Leave to rest in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack.
When cool, cut into 16 pieces.