Plum and rum cake

This year I discovered for the first time the extent of available plum varietals and hybrids in my area and decided to enjoy them to their fullest. I brought together the freshest, most ripe fruit I could get my hands on, with delicious rum and vanilla to layer into this fun and complex cake that was my birthday present to myself.

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Most of the components are recipes I brought together from a variety of sources, which I will share here. Later on, I share my quick and easy fruit "jam" recipe which I've used for added plum flavor in this cake and I've also used as base for fruit mousse and souffles in the past. 

Going in the order of the components bottom to top (following the layering in assembling this cake), first thing going in was a brown butter hazelnut sablé - I started with this recipe from Bon Appetit, and used hazelnuts instead of pistachios, cut it in a 6" circle to match the cake size, and omitted the glaze. The scraps were delicious to nibble on, they didn't last long at all.

I then spread a thin layer of pluot quick jam to act as pop of flavor/binder between the crisp base and the cake layer, and added the first cake round. I made the cake using this recipe from Once Upon a Chef, but arranged the plums in neat 6" circles so they would match the cutout for the cake layers.

The cake round got doused in vanilla bean rum simple syrup, followed by a thin layer of vanilla rum German buttercream - essentially Liv for Cake's recipe, with a touch of rum and nutmeg in the custard.

Next, I used another recipe that caught my eye, Sohla's upside down mochi cake adapted with peacotums and vanilla bean. This came out rich and earthy and delicious, but learn from my mistakes - only include this if you are planning to serve the cake the same day. The fridge is not kind on the texture of mochi cake, as delightful as it is fresh out of the oven or saved for a little while at room temperature.

Cake got another round of butter cake, rum syrup and custard buttercream layers, before the delicate and creamy vanilla rum cheesecake - I simply made Matt's recipe directly in a parchment lined ring form pan without any crust, then carefully stacked it on the cake after it was thoroughly chilled.

After topping the cheesecake with a layer of the pluot quick jam, I made German Buttercream swirls and poked them with droppers of vanilla bean rum. Simple and elegant, with a bonus infusion of the aromatic rum for each slice.

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Plum quick jam

Ingredients

• 2 cups of plums, pitted and roughly chopped
• 2-4 tbsp sugar, to taste
• half of a whole cinnamon stick
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp corn starch

Method

1. Put plums, sugar, cinnamon (or other whole spices, to taste) and pinch of salt in a pot with a splash of water and bring to a simmer. 
2. Cook for a couple of minutes until fruit is softened, then remove from heat and blend until smooth with an immersion blender.
3. Add corn starch slurry (corn starch mixed with 1 tbsp water until smooth), whisk well and return to heat.
4. Cook until bubbling for ~1 min and thickened.
5. Remove from heat, let cool, then chill or use right away.

Notes

• You can do this with nearly any fruit to use as a quick jam for layering in a cake or for a base for fruit mousse or souffle. 
• Stone fruit pair nicely with warm spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves) as well as vanilla bean. Berries may pair well with herbs or floral flavors (rose, orange blossom).