New Age Plum Torte?

[MatthewB]

Paula,

Thanks so much for this Q&A as well as your regular good-natured self on eGullet discussion boards.

Quick question . . .

I believe you had a "New Age Plum Torte" recipe in the original run of Eating Well magazine.

Alas, I've lost that recipe.

Internet searches have turned up nothing.

Any chance of the recipe?

[Wolfert]

Hi Mathew: Thanks for your kind words. Actually, I've never published a recipe for "New Age Plum Torte." Could you perhaps be thinking of Marian Burros who's published and republished a much beloved plum torte. (I think it appeared in the New York Times around Thanksgiving one year).

[willow]

Hey Matthew--

Re your question to Paula concerning "New Age Plum Torte":

This is a Marion Burros low-fat variation of "The Original Plum Torte" which Marion pulbished in the NYTimes several years ago. As I remember, she subsituted applesauce or some other faux fat for the butter: at any rate, it didn't fly and the next year she was back to publishing the original. Although Marion certainly brought it to national attention, in one of her books she attributes Lois Levine, a one-time collaborator, as the originator of the recipe. In any event it is indeed now a beloved classic--and a sterling example of how a few simple ingredients can morph into something simply wonderful. Possibly because it's a recipe I am always misplacing myself (!) , I included it in "The Best American Recipes 2000" (Houghton Mifflin) as follows:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup plus 1-2 tablespoons sugar to taste

1 cup unbleched all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs

12 Italian prune plums, halved and pitted

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more to taste

vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a rack at the lower level.

In medium bowl, cream the butter with 3/4 cup sugar. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat to mix. Spoon the batter into an ungreased 9-or 10-inch springform pan. Cover the top of the batter with the plums, skin side down. In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon with the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar and sprinkle over the top.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove form the oven and let cool; refrigerate or freeze, if desired.

To serve, let the torte come to room temperature, then reheat at 300 degrees until warm, if desired. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Note: Although this is the recipe as orignally written, I actually use bleached, all-purpose flour now (a lighter result in baking, I've found) and usually use regular old everday purple or red plums, which in the last couple of years have been consistently better than prune plums (at least in my neck of the woods:NYC).

And often creme fraiche--or nothing!--instead of ice cream. But you'll find your own variations; hope it becomes a favorite for you, as well.

Best,

Suzanne Hamlin

3/4 cup

[willow]

Hi Matthew--

I sent you a post earlier today--several hours ago--with the recipe for the Plum Torte but I don't see it posted. It seemed to go through so I'm hoping that somehow it was just sent directly to you. I'm not a regular egullet responder but have posted replies before--and the thought of re-typing the recipe...!

Anyway, let me know..

Best,

Willow

[Wolfert]

Thank you, Suzanne aka Willow. I am so happy you knew the recipe and the story behind it and willing to type it up for us.

bless you.

[MatthewB]

Yes, thanks very very much.

I'll be making this Sunday morning.