Plums Up

In my files I found a tattered piece of paper describing a Plum Upside-Down Cake I had ordered at Cafe Provencal in Evanston, Ill. “A moist, tender cake, juicy plum topping--delicious!” was all it said.

After looking through several cookbooks, I developed my own version of this special dessert. Brown sugar combined with melted butter is patted into the bottom of an oven-proof skillet. Then sliced plums are arranged in the skillet and sprinkled with powdered cardamom. Finally, a light batter flavored with a hint of lemon is poured over the plums.

Once baked, the cake is easy to unmold and looks glorious, topped with glistening glazed fruit. Sometimes I even gild the lily and serve the cake with frozen vanilla yogurt.

*

PLUM UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed

5 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds plums (preferably red Santa Rosa plums), washed and dried

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Dash salt

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pint frozen low-fat or nonfat vanilla yogurt, optional

Generously spray non-stick spray onto bottom and sides of 8- to 10-inch heavy skillet with oven-proof handle. Place brown sugar in bottom of pan and pour in melted butter. Use fork to blend butter and brown sugar well. Pat mixture with hands evenly over bottom of pan.

Halve plums lengthwise, remove pits and slice into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Starting around outside edge of pan, arrange plum slices in neat circle rows over sugar layer. Sprinkle plums with cardamom.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Beat eggs in bowl of electric mixer at high speed about 1 minute. Gradually add granulated sugar in thin stream. Continue to beat until mixture is thick and pale yellow, about 5 minutes. On slow speed, gradually add flour mixture. If necessary, turn off machine and scrape down sides of bowl. Stir in lemon juice. Pour batter over plums.

Bake on center shelf at 350 degrees until top is golden brown, cake starts to pull away from sides of pan and wood pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove skillet from oven. Immediately run knife around inside edge. Invert skillet onto large, round plate or serving tray. Let skillet stand upside down 1 minute so all fruit is released, then remove skillet.

Serve cake warm or at room temperature. It is best eaten same day but can be baked, covered and refrigerated day ahead. Serve each slice with scoop of frozen vanilla yogurt. Makes 8 to 10 servings.