Plum and marzipan cakes

We make these plum and marzipan cakes a lot when the plum trees are fruiting and the chickens are laying copious amounts of eggs. The combination of slightly tart plums and sweet marzipan is very moreish and a pot of fresh mint tea is a lovely accompaniment.

Makes 12

125g caster sugar

75g ground almonds

2 eggs

75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

75ml whole milk

150g white self-raising flour

150g plums, stoned and chopped roughly into 1cm cubes

75g marzipan, chopped roughly into 0.5cm cubes

2 extra large plums, stoned, halved and sliced thinly (you’ll need 24-36 slices in total to top the cakes)

1 Grease a muffin or friand tin well and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4.

2 Mix the sugar and ground almonds in a bowl, breaking up any lumps as you go. Then, in a separate jug, lightly whisk the eggs, melted butter and milk together. Pour the contents of the jug into the bowl of sugar and almonds and stir until well-combined.

3 Sift the flour into the bowl and gently fold it into the other ingredients. Next fold in the chopped plums and marzipan, ensuring that they are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.

4 Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared tin and gently tap it to level out the mixture. Push 2-3 slices of plum into the top of each cake, keeping the skin side on show. Bake for around 10-15 mins until risen and domed in the middle, and golden brown at the edges. Let cool for a minute or two (don’t leave it any longer or the marzipan will stick the bottoms of the cakes to the tin), before gently easing each cake out of the tin with a pallet knife and cooling on a wire rack.

Cook’s note: These little cakes are at their very best when eaten on the same day that they are baked, ideally while still ever so slightly warm, but they will also keep for a couple of days in a sealed container.