
Photo courtesy of kazuend
At a certain time of year, beginning in September, the stats for one of my posts shoot upwards. It always makes me smile as I know that people are hunting urgently for things to make with their glut of damsons.
Damsons are a small variety of plum and damson trees — when in good health — give you a voraciously prolific harvest! My childhood home, where I lived until I was nineteen, had an orchard with apple trees and damsons.
One year I decided to be innovative and make up a recipe for damson plum crumble cake. I haven’t made this cake since 2011, and I hope the recipe has worked for everyone who tried making it this year.
Judging by the feedback in the comments, increasing the sugar content might be a good idea. I’m not a fan of very sweet cakes, but damsons are a tart fruit and they do need to be sweetened.
I don’t have an orchard where I live now — the garden is a lot smaller and it is home to a single apple tree. But this year’s crop has been quite plentiful and there are enough apples for pies, crumbles/crisps, applesauce and cake.
The aroma of apples gently cooking with cinnamon and sugar is such a mouth-wateringly good autumn scent. If I could bottle it and wear it as a perfume, I would. But then I’d be craving cake all the time, so perhaps that’s not such a great idea.
This morning I baked one of my favourite recipes: German Apple Cake. The cake is cooling as I type, and I’m looking forward to a slice this afternoon.
What are your favourite autumn baking recipes? Do share them in the comments!
Yum! I love damsons – they make wonderful cakes. 🙂
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They certainly do. 🙂
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Mmm, German apple cake sounds divine! I love how simple it is. I’m sure it’s one of those recipes that is simple, yet amazing! I always enjoy baked goods like that! I remember your damson plum cake, too from a few years back!
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It is really, really good. 🙂 I baked one on Monday and I’ve been enjoying a slice with my mid-morning coffee every day!
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Delicious! I grew up with a lovely orchard (apples, cherries, & pear trees). I don’t have any fruit trees where I live now.
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That sounds like a gorgeous orchard. Fruit, fresh from the tree… mmm! 🙂
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Even though your some people might think your plum cake needs much sugar, I’m sure I would like it. A plum cake always reminds me of the first time I had one while visiting Germany..
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Thank you, Karen. 🙂
I don’t like excessively sweet cakes and puddings, and I prefer to bake with unrefined sweeteners (dark brown sugar, honey, maple syrup…etc) rather than plain white sugar. I think it makes baked goods taste nicer — so many shop-bought cakes contain things like glucose-fructose syrup, which is unnecessary IMO.
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I totally agree.
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