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.