Wordless Wednesday

Plum September - Shades of red & purple in the balcony garden

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Originally I was going to publish this post without any words, but this morning I discovered something about my fall garden colour choices so thought I'd share it.

I didn't consider fashion trends when choosing my fall garden palette -- I just picked my favourite hues. But this morning I checked the Pantone Fall 2009 palette and thought the red ("American Beauty" Pantone 19-1759) and purple ("Purple Heart" Pantone 18-3520) seemed close to the shades of my pansies and violas. (At least they appeared that way on my computer monitor.)

You can download the Pantone Fashion Color Report Fall 2009 (PDF) from the Pantone site. If you're still in the planning stages or having trouble choosing plants at the garden centre, the guide might help you design a colour scheme, arrange foliage and flowers, and choose containers to blend into the background or act as focal points.

But I'm not encouraging anyone to be a slave to fashion. Most important: grow what you love. And can eat, too, whenever possible.

Plum September - A recipe

Cake may not be essential to life but eaten occasionally, with some element of celebration or ceremony, it enriches, sweetens, perhaps even spices up the day. And I know it inspires good conversation.

Here's my new-favourite recipe for a warm, September Sunday when the plums are in season and you've scheduled nothing but an afternoon of sharing tea, memories and dreams with a friend or two.

Plum-Cardamom Upside-Down Cake

Plum Syrup
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
12-15 Italian prune plums, pitted and sliced 1/2 inch thick

Cake
11/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

To make the plum syrup:
Line the bottom of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Whisk in the brown sugar until the sugar dissolves.
Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.
Pour the syrup into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Arrange the plum slices, slightly overlapping them, in 3 rows, completely covering the bottom of the pan.

To make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and cardamom onto a piece of parchment paper or into the bowl. Add the salt and set aside.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the milk and vanilla and set aside.
Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute.
Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing well after each addition.
Increase the speed to medium and beat until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then continue to beat for 1 minutes.
Spread the batter on top of the plums.
Bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes.
Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake, invert a platter on top of the pan, and then invert the plate and pan together. Lift off the pan and carefully remove the parchment paper.
Slice the cake and serve warm or at room temperature.

Planning Ahead
The cake is best served the day it is made. Wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

{My variation: After arranging plums in bottom of pan, sprinkle with a light dusting of cinnamon & drizzle lightly with maple syrup.} 

{Kitchen notes: In this version (trial #2) I prepared for the blog post & photographs, I used more plums than the recipe called for -- I prefer a fruity rather than cake-y dessert. This affected the cake texture but not the flavour (it was still "yum").  And the next time I make the recipe, I'm going to increase the deliciousness with a dollop of Kathryn's vanilla ricotta on top.}

Source: cake recipe adapted from Classic Stars Desserts by Emily Luchetti.

 

Poetry: "To the Light of September"

POEM

To the Light of September

by W. S. Merwin

When you are already here

you appear to be only

a name that tells of you

whether you are present or not

and for now it seems as though

you are still summer

still the high familiar

endless summer

yet with a glint

of bronze in the chill mornings

and the late yellow petals

of the mullein fluttering

on the stalks that lean

over their broken

shadows across the cracked ground

but they all know

that you have come

the seed heads of the sage

the whispering birds

with nowhere to hide you

to keep you for later

you

who fly with them

you who are neither

before nor after

you who arrive

with blue plums

that have fallen through the night

perfect in the dew

Source: Poetry Foundation