Season:

Type: Sweets

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 6 at home or 30 tastes in the classroom

Fresh from the garden: plums, eggs

Recipe source: Adapted from Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion

• metric measuring spoons & cups
• chopping boards & non-slip mats
• 1 medium knife
• kitchen paper
• baking paper
• 22 cm tart tin
• scales
• bowls – 2 medium
• sifter
• whisk
• food processor
• spatula
• wide spatula
• wire rack

• 90 g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 2 – 3 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
• 65 g caster sugar
• 6 – 8 large ripe blood plums

Streusel mixture

• 30 g soft brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅓ cup plain flour
• 30 g unsalted butter, chopped

• Set out your ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 180^oC.
• Grease the tart tin.

Make the streusel mixture

• Mix the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and flour in a medium bowl.
• Rub in the butter so the mixture is a bit crumbly and lumpy. Set aside.

Make the tart

• Cut the plums in half and remove the stones. Cut each half into 2 or three pieces, depending on their size.
• Sift the flour, cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a medium bowl.
• Whisk the egg with 2 tablespoons of buttermilk or milk. Cream the butter and sugar in the food processor until pale and thick.
• Tip in the flour mixture and pulse briefly to combine. Add the egg mixture and process briefly; it should be a dropping consistency. If the mixture is stiff add another tablespoon of buttermilk or milk.
• Scrape the batter into the tin and smooth the top.
• Press the plums into the butter in rows.
• Scatter over the streusel mixture,
• Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the edges comes out clean.
• Cool the cake in the tin on the wire rack and serve warm or cold.