Plum and Custard Streusel Cake

While I was staying with my mother over the Christmas/New Year period, we found ourselves with a glut of plums that needed to be used.  My immediate thought was plum cake!  The only question was which recipe I would choose.

I settled on this  Plum and Custard Streusel Cake - because who doesn't like custard and streusel?  I left out the slivered almonds from the cake, as I did not have any.  I also substituted fresh plums for the canned plums, given that the whole point of making the cake was to use up the plums in the fridge.

My finished cake may not have been as pretty as the photo in the recipe, but boy it tasted good:

If you would like to try this luscious cake, you will need:

8 whole plums, stoned and halved (fresh or canned)

200g softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup milk

25g chilled chopped butter

Custard

2 tablespoons custard powder

2 cups milk

Streusel

1/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup crumbed walnuts

1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the custard:

Blend the custard powder with a small amount of the milk in a small saucepan to make a paste.  Over a gentle heat, add the remaining milk, and stir until the custard heats and thickens but does not boil.  Remove the custard from the heat and cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface.  Allow to cool to room temperature.

For the streusel:

Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and stir well to combine.

For the cake:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease and line a 23cm round springform pan.

Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together for 5 minutes until pale and creamy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Beat in the flour and milk alternately in two tranches.  Spread half of the cake batter over the base of the springform pan.  Sprinkle half of the streusel mix over the cake.  Dollop the custard evenly over the streusel, and spread out evenly to cover the streusel.   Arrange the plum halves over the top of the custard.  Spread the remainder of the cake batter evenly over the top of the cake to cover the plums. 

Add the remaining flour and butter to the remaining streusel mix, and rub together with your fingertips to form crumbs.  Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of the cake, and bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before unmoulding, right side up, from the tin onto a wire rack, and allowing the cake to cool completely. 

Serve as is or with cream or icecream.