Today’s recipe showcases some of my favorite summer fruit: plums! I remember summers I would go to the farmers’ market with my family and fill up bags with peaches, apricots, and plums, savoring the stone fruit season while I could. Sunday farmers’ market hauls would only last a few days, with my mom and I devouring at least two each day. However, this year I’ve had trouble finding lots of ripe, sweet stone fruit, so when I finally spotted these deep purple plums, I went a little wild. With no one there to hold me back from filling my bag and memories of past summers I longed for flooding back to me, I came home with over 20 plums. This Pistachio Plum Cake is among the many creations I made with them. 

Slices of plums enveloped in a dense, crumbly Italian-style cake, made with homemade pistachio flour instead of almond flour. Slightly sweet, with fruit in every slice! So, whether you’re making this Pistachio Plum Cake, or eating farmers’ market peaches by the bag-full, I hope you enjoy the rest of stone fruit season!

But before we get into the recipe, I have a little story about a very resilient plum tree and my mission to keep the squirrels from ruining our harvest.

The Plum Tree and The Squirrels

In a universe where squirrels don’t wreak havoc on fruit trees, I would have used my homegrown plums, (+ have more than I knew what to do with). Sadly, this is not the case. Year after year, squirrels lurk up in the neighboring palm and pine trees, waiting until the plums slightly begin to blush, before taking a bite out of the unripened fruit and knocking it to the ground to rot. 

This plum tree is older than me, given to me when I was around three years old. A few years in, it was covered in so much fruit that one of the main branches was bent all the way to the ground. Just a couple years later, it starting showing signs of sickness, oozing sap from the dark, severely crackled bark. We didn’t have enough room at the old house, so it lived in a pot until we moved. Since then, it’s been living in the garden, and 10 years later, is covered in blossoms, and reaches just over 20 feet tall. And here begins my mission to save my plums. 

It seems like it happened overnight. An unusually cold, wet California winter kept me away from the garden for months. When did that tree get so tall? Where did all of those blossoms come from?!

Seriously. It’s hanging over the garage.

“Look at how MANY there are”, I said to my dad.

“Yep. And we’re not gonna get any of them.”

Ugh. Another year of no plums.

…or maybe not?

A Tree, A Ladder, and a Purpose

Something rekindled my passion for gardening this year. I remembered reading about a method of protecting larger crops, like squash or pumpkins, by covering them with mesh bags. Maybe this could work? Maybe I could outsmart the squirrels? 

Two days later, I had 100 bags, and a purpose. I spent hours on a ladder, trying to cover as many plums as I could. Very green, very fragile plums. We lost a few in the process. Most individually wrapped, with the occasional duo.

So, did it work?

Sort of. Weeks went by and they were untouched. Small tears started to appear in the bags, and some pried open. Eventually, they knocked most bags to the ground, but mostly unscathed. It was like the squirrels didn’t want them once they fell. 

I collected all of the fallen bags and brought the half-ripened plums inside to ripen in peace. Not ideal, but still the best harvest in years. Because they didn’t get to ripen in the sun, my mom turned most of them into jam, and we finally had the opportunity to taste the plums we grew ourselves. 

*This recipe was developed from Bon Appétit's recipe for Italian Plum and Almond Cake: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/italian-plum-almond-cake

pistachio plum cake

A delicious, moist Italian-style cake made with pistachios and fresh plums.

ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• ½ cup shelled pistachios

• 1 ½ teapoons baking powder

• ¼ cup brown sugar

• ¾ cup white sugar

• 2 large eggs

• ½ cup unsalted butter (+ 1 tablespoon for the pan)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 5-6 plums, pitted and sliced

method

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. Butter a 10-inch pan (can be a tart, pie, or cake pan).

   In a food processor, blend the shelled pistachios into a course flour, similar to cornmeal. Combine the flour, pistachio flour, salt, and baking powder, and set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, then combine the vanilla extract.

   Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low, until smooth.

3. Pour the pistachio batter into the buttered pan and spread evenly. Lay the plum slices on top of the batter, arranging in a spiral pattern.

   Bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden. Rest for 20 minutes before serving and enjoy!