My new red shiny toy: Kitchenaid

This is my new, very sweet, very lovely kitchen gadget/toy in my favourite colour, red.  I have coveted one for so long and now I have one taking pride of place on my kitchen counter.  YES!!!  Please do not tell anyone, this is between just you and me, but sometimes I like to just look at my beautiful Kitchenaid or (more often) stroke the shiny, smooth red metal.

Of course I had to "christen" my swanky, swish machine with a recipe from my absolute favourite cook, Ina Garten.  I am such an unashamed fan.  I baked her Plum Cake-Tarte Tatin.  I made some minor adjustments to Ina's recipe...out of necessity.  The recipe originally requires sour cream and plums.  I substituted the sour cream with creme fraiche and plums with half plums and half strawberries.  The result was still a delectable and scrumptiously sweet cake with a good edge of sharpness...as attested to by my very hungry and biased hubby (not his exact words, his exact vocalisations being "Hmm.  Good."). 

In summation, my first mixer experience was  fun, exciting, delightful, pleasing, gratifying...made me giggle like a school girl.

Plum Cake-Tarte Tatin



Ingredients:

Plums and caramel

10 to 12 plums, cut in half and pitted (I used plums and strawberries)

1 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of water

Dry ingredients

1 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

Cake batter 

6 tbsp (90g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the dish

3/4 cup of sugar

2 large eggs (free range or organic)

1/3 cup of sour cream

1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

1/2 ts vanilla extract

Confectioner's sugar (icing sugar) to serve

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

Plum and caramel

Butter the baking dish then arrange the plums (or strawberries), cut side down, into a pretty pattern.

In a small saucepan combine 1 cup of sugar with 1/3 cup of water.  On high heat boil the mixture until the sugary syrup turns a golden colour (you can make the caramel as dark or as light as you wish).  Do not stir the mixture but swirl the saucepan to ensure the golden colour is well distributed throughout.  Once the caramel is a lovely golden colour, pour the mixture over the plums.  Leave to cool.

Dry ingredients 

Sift your dry ingredients, that is the flour, salt and baking powder.  Set aside.

Cake batter

In a mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and 3/4 sugar until light and fluffy.  Lower the speed and beat in one egg at a time, until combined.  Add in the sour creme, lemon zest and vanilla extract until well combined.  Add the dry ingredients slowly, until just combined.  Pour the cake batter over the plums.

* If you do not have a mixer but have a handheld beater or a good old fashion wooden spoon, you can still make the cake batter very effectively.  It just faster and a wee bit easier with a mixer (and particularly for me very exciting).

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or when a tester (i.e., skewer) comes out clean.  Leave to cool for 15 minutes before inverting the cake. 

When completely cool, dust with confectioner's sugar.  Enjoy as is or with a dollop of cream.