Oat & plum tea cake

PREP 15 MINS

COOK 1 HOUR 5 MINS

SERVES 12 AS AN OCCASIONAL DESSERT

700g container plums

in natural juice

45g (½ cup) quick-cooking oats 75g (1/3 cup) caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

125g light margarine

2 x 60g eggs

225g (1½ cups) self-raising

flour, sifted

250ml (1 cup) buttermilk

(see Cook’s Tip p74)

1 Tbsp flaked almonds

1 Preheat oven to 160°C (fanforced). Grease and line base and side of a 22cm (base measurement) springform pan with baking paper.

2 Drain the plums, reserving

250ml (1 cup) juice. Halve and remove stones from 8 plums. (Reserve remaining plums for another use.) Place reserved juice in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes or until the syrup has reduced by half. Remove the pan from heat and set aside to cool syrup to room temperature. 3 Meanwhile, reserve 1 Tbsp of the oats. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Reserve 1 tsp of cinnamon sugar mixture.

4 Use electric beaters to beat spread and cinnamon sugar mixture in a small bowl until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Stir in the flour, remaining oats, buttermilk and reduced syrup until well combined. Pour mixture into the lined pan. Arrange the plums on top, cut-side down, then sprinkle with almonds and reserved oats.

5 Bake cake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Sprinkle with reserved cinnamon sugar mixture. Set aside to cool in pan. Cut cake into 12 equal slices to serve.

COOK’S TIP Remaining plums can be served with breakfast muesli or with low-fat ice-cream or custard for dessert. The cake is best eaten the day it is made. Leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Nutrition info

PER SERVE 940kJ, protein 5g, total fat 7g (sat. fat 3g), carbs 36g, fibre 2g, sodium 208mg • Carb exchanges 2½ • GI estimate high