Celebrate Jewish New Year With Plum Flan Cake

This seriously simple dessert contains no eggs. Diane Rossen Worthington/TNS

As the Jewish holidays approach, I try to add a new dish to present on my holiday table. This year, I decided to develop a recipe that includes plums and would be a welcome end-of-meal sweet for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. It also would be a beautiful finale to any autumnal meal that you might make.

Plums are abundant at the end of summer and early fall in many colors. You can use whatever plums you find. Make sure they are firm and unblemished. I like to select yellow and reddish-purple ones for a colorful array atop the cake. You can also use pluots, a hybrid fruit that is 75 percent plum and 25 percent apricot, for this dessert. Both pluots and plums have a slightly sour-sweet flavor.

This cross between the celebrated French cherry clafoutis dessert and a Dutch oven pancake has a slightly dense flan-like interior. This seriously simple dessert contains no eggs. You place the dish in the oven to melt the butter (like for a Dutch pancake). When the pan is hot, you pour in the batter and top with sweetened, multicolored plums. It bakes until the top is slightly puffed and lightly brown.

Don’t worry if you see melted butter on the bottom and around the side of the dish. It gets absorbed and then becomes a crispy, caramelized crust, and it’s so good! A scoop of French vanilla ice cream will round out all the flavors. If you’re lucky enough to have any leftovers, pop them in a preheated oven for a few minutes to crisp up the bottom.

Plum Flan Cake

To cut the plums in slices, cut around the pit to make equal-sized slices. If you need extra help, check out YouTube for visual assistance.

Serves 6 to 8

For the Cake

• 3 medium thinly sliced plums, about 2 cups
• 2 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Serve

• Powdered sugar, for decorating
• Quart French vanilla ice cream

Combine sliced plums and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl and mix together. Allow to sit for 30 minutes so the plums give off some juice.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the butter in a 9-by-13-inch ovenproof dish and place in the oven to melt the butter, about 7 to 10 minutes. The butter should be bubbling but not brown.

Meanwhile sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and remaining sugar, and whisk well to make a smooth batter.

Remove the dish from the oven with oven mitts and pour the batter over the melted butter in a smooth layer with a spatula. Arrange the plum slices and juices evenly over the batter.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cobbler has risen slightly and is light brown. The plums will be encased around the batter. (You may see some melted butter on the bottom, but it’s absorbed once the flan cake sits.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream.

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