Is That the Autumn Knocking on the Door? With a Piece of Plum Coffee Cake?
The fall, or the autumn as I would prefer to call it, has been teasing us by showing up for a day or two, then letting the hot weather creep back in at mid-80s. Last Friday, I felt actually very cold after months by just walking down from my train stop to the office . Yesterday, I thought it was time for baking a coffee cake. Today, a small pot of chili and a big pot of beef stew are on the stove, simmering away.
I know after tomorrow, it will go back to mid-80s and I will have to turn on the A/C again. But for now, I will pretend that it is time for the turtleneck sweaters to come out. I will steal a cool, brisk walk in the mornings, enjoying a ten-minute wake-me-up chilly air.
Coffee cakes have taken the place of my mom’s cakes since I moved to the USA. A familiar comfort oozes out of them as soon as I take one out of the oven.Plum Coffee Cake was perfect for a get-together with the girlfriends on a cold Saturday afternoon which started with Turkish tea, moved on with filtered coffee and ended with Turkish coffee. As you can imagine, we were pretty awake by the end of the day and this cake had just right amount of sugar and cardamom to accompany all that caffeine. I have found the cake recipe in my Fine Cooking Breakfast Special Issue. I could re-write the whole recipe here but fortunately, for once, I decided not to make drastic changes to a magazine recipe. Well, only one change, I added a little bit more cardamom than it called for: 1/2 teaspoon for the topping and 1 teaspoon for the cake batter. You can find the entire recipe with step-by-step instructions in this link.
I served it with mascarpone cream. The conversation was so sweet and I did not remember to take a picture of the cake with the cream on top while I was serving. The two slices I saved for the later photo purposes became breakfast for my husband before I had my first cup of coffee. But I can easily say that this mascarpone cream has become my go-to cream for serving fruit salads as well as drizzling over desserts.
Now after a nice,cool Sunday out for our nephew’s birthday at a red barn (I have a thing for old barns!) and, petting all the little and big animals, it is time to curl up with a blanket, a cup of coffee and a good book. Hope the autumn is here soon!
Mascarpone Cream
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (or less, depending on how thick you want. Add gradually and stop when you reach the desired consistency)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Vanilla beans , scraped from 1 vanilla bean pod
1. Beat mascarpone cheese and sugar for 10-15 seconds with an electric mixer at medium speed.
2. Add the vanilla bean. Gradually add the cream and continue beating until the desired consistency.
3. Chill for a couple of hours before use.
14 Comments:
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7:47 pm
Sep 18, 2011This sounds amazing :) What is Turkish coffee?
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9:16 pm
Sep 18, 2011Hi Beth Anne,
Turkish Coffee is finely ground Arabic coffee that is cooked in a small pot (called cezve) over stovetop, served in demitasse cups. It is strong and not filtered. -
9:25 pm
Sep 18, 2011I’m officially taking my next vacation to your house :)
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9:36 pm
Sep 18, 2011That would be so much fun :)
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7:59 pm
Sep 19, 2011The plums sitting on top look so beautiful!!This would have tasted so yum at Turkish coffee..never tried it but heard a lot abt it.
Autum is far far away from my part of the world..just had a cold & rainy weekend & now heat is back! -
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8:36 pm
Sep 19, 2011Mmmmm, this sounds yummy! I’m so ready for fall! Soup, pumpkin lattes, jackets, etc! Thanks for coming! I’m glad y’all enjoyed it! You must share your pics! Love the barn photo! You know I was drooling when I saw it!
Jen -
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9:00 pm
Sep 19, 2011That is just too gorgeous. I love plums.
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10:35 pm
Sep 19, 2011Beautiful cake, it looks amazing!
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4:07 am
Sep 20, 2011Beautiful post! I love the colors of the barn AND the glorious, delicious, perfect coffee cake. YUM!
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4:10 pm
Sep 20, 2011The first thing: I adore Autumn is my favorite season !! now here in Chile we are in Spring, is nice and love all it has, but I love autumn.
I love your mascarpone cream and we love Turkish coffe, yesterday my hubby make it! He make the coffe! is nice, thanks for stopping by and I love your blog, Im following you! gloria -
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9:21 am
Sep 22, 2011Hey honey! We make a similar plum cake and it is SO GOOD! Yours looks so rustic–perfect for fall. :)
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8:23 am
Sep 23, 2011What a pretty plum cake! I feel your pain and am so ready for fall. It’s still in the 90′s here in Austin. I’ll take it though- at least were out of the 100′s. Here’s hoping we both get beautiful fall weeather soon!
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10:11 pm
Sep 24, 2011This looks fantastic! I’ve never thought to put plums (or any fruit for that matter) on TOP of a coffee cake – usually I put them inside. Looks delicious!
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7:16 am
Oct 10, 2011Wow looks great..sounds good…love the strong coffee too.;-)
The cake looks fabulous…