The Food Matters Project: Improvising at the market

When it comes to shopping at the farmer's market, as much as I try to plan beforehand and limit my impulse buys, I've learned the value of going with the flow and allowing some improvisation to occur.

My market didn't have any apricots yesterday, but since plums were overflowing at the stalls, Mark Bittman's apricot polenta cake quickly turned into Dorie Greenspan's dimply plum cake. Dorie's cake has been lovingly made in all corners of the web. You can view her recipe here.

I baked my cake in an 8-inch round cake pan, and omitted the cardamom and orange zest since I didn't have either on hand; I used 10 small plums. A simple cake like this really lets in-season fruit shine. I imagine it would be equally wonderful with nectarines or peaches.

For the original Mark Bittman recipe for apricot cornmeal cake, visit Jen's blog.

Comments

[Erin]

Stunning. I love the simplicity of a cake like this, I'm sure it was delicious!

[Lan | angry asian]

you're right, this came out well with fresh peaches. your plum design is beautiful.

like you, i get a little crazy at farmer's markets so i must have tunnel vision sometimes.

[Jen]

Oh I love plums and there will be some plum cake baking happening lol

[Aura]

Beautiful, Nicole! Where are the plums from? Sadly, all of the Michigan plums were lost due to frost this spring after our March heat wave. Not to mention all of my pears on my pear tree! I did get some Washington plums at the market which were a good substitute. Your cake looks gorgeous.