mulberryshoots

The temperature outside is minus 3. Windchill about -23 degrees. The weather person said that exposed skin will get frostbite in about a half an hour. So, a good day to stay indoors until it warms up a little later this week.

For lunch, I found a stalk of leek in the vegetable drawer and made potato-leek soup with chicken broth for lunch. I melted some butter, sauteed the chopped leek and about five peeled small russet potatoes. Added water and half a pack of gel chicken broth made by Knorr. Mashed the potatoes with a potato masher & swirled it with an electric mixer in the pot at the end – a make-do immersion blender!

During the afternoon, I thought about something to bake for dessert. I remembered a very old recipe I had written into my McCall’s cookbook. It was a plum cake recipe originally but I’ve made it with fresh peach slices on top and most often, a peeled and sliced apple. Here’s the recipe I used:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together 1 stick of room temperature unsalted butter, a cup of sugar and 2 eggs until creamy. Add a teaspoon of baking powder, a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt.

Into a small fluted porcelain baking pan sprayed with Pam, add the batter in and topped with peeled Honey Crisp apple slices. Sprinkled cinnamon on top and put into the oven for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle. After turning off the oven, I let the cake rest on the edge of the rack to cool.

It’s a simple and lovely cake to make on the spur of the moment. Any stone fruit in season is delicious to set on top including fresh plums, peaches or apples. It’s tasty by itself or served with some freshly whipped cream.