Plum and fig torte from the 1980s New York Times

From the backstory to the baking: is it really as legendary, as simple and as good as they say?

A recipe everyone loves usually gets a few things right: easy ingredients, little fuss, proportions simple enough to remember, and fruit that is in season. The original Plum Torte had all of it. Americans measure in cups, so the proportions were easy to keep in your head: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup of butter… We work in grams, so the numbers here differ a little.

I converted everything from cups, stretched the plums with figs (they simply happened to be in the fridge) and gave the recipe a go. It really is easy to make and the result is excellent: a plain, reliable, tender cake batter. Recommended!

20–23 cm tin

Ingredients

• flour — 130 g
• sugar — 150 g (the 1983 original called for 200 g) + vanilla sugar if you like
• butter at room temperature — 115 g
• eggs — 2
• baking powder — 1 tsp
• salt — a pinch
• Italian prune plums (the Zwetschgen) — 8
• figs — 8
• for the top: 1–2 tsp sugar, cinnamon, a little lemon juice

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Beat room-temperature butter with the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.
3. Fold in the flour with the baking powder and salt. The batter will be thick. Spread it in the tin, its base lined with parchment.
4. Arrange plum halves on top, cut side down. Be generous and pack them in: the batter rises around the fruit as it bakes, and the plums turn into a jammy middle. Cut side down really does matter.
5. Sprinkle with lemon juice, then with the sugar and cinnamon.
6. Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the top is golden and the plums are bubbling. A skewer pushed into the cake (not into a plum) should come out dry.

Tips

• The original calls for exactly 12 plums and no figs. There is no need to count, though: use up as much plum and fig as you have.