Plum compote cake with almond crumble

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 700 g plums, fresh or frozen, or 2 jars of 720 ml each
• 40 g cornstarch, mixed with 1/2 cup cold red wine, juice or water
• 1 tsp cinnamon, vanilla or cardamom
• Honey or sugar as desired
• 400 g flour (type 405 or 550 or whole grain, possibly mixed)
• 160 g brown sugar (a little more if honey is needed)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon, ground or 1 tsp vanilla or pulp 1 pod
• ½ tsp baking powder (cream of tartar)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 m.-sized egg(s)
• 250 g butter or margarine
• 100 g ground almonds
• 1 handful of nuts, roughly chopped or almonds

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Especially for frozen plums – quick and tasty – also as a plum crumble for dessert.

With fresh or frozen plums: Bring the plums to a boil with enough water to just cover the base. This will allow them to release plenty of juice. Thicken this with 60g cornstarch mixed with a little cold red wine, juice or water, and stir in spices of your choice, along with honey or sugar according to the sweetness of the fruit and your taste. Bring to a boil, then immediately remove from the heat and let cool until the base is pre-baked. With jarred plums: Drain, reserving the juice. Mix the cornstarch and spices of your choice with 1/2 cup of the juice. Measure out 350ml of the remaining juice and bring to a boil. Stir in the mixed custard powder, cook for 1 minute while stirring, remove from the heat, stir in the plums, and let cool until the base is pre-baked. Crumble for the base and top: Mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon or vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg yolks and the fat. Using the dough hook of a hand mixer, knead everything into crumbles, then by hand. Place about 2/3 of the crumbles into a greased 26cm springform pan, press down to form a smooth base, and push up the edges by about 3cm. Bake in a preheated oven (200°C/280°F, fan oven: 175°C/375°F, gas mark 3) for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the remaining crumbles, still slightly sticky from the egg, with the ground almonds and any coarsely chopped nuts of your choice. Remove the cake from the oven, quickly spread the plum compote on the base, and crumble the almond crumbles over the top. Return to the oven, reduce the heat to 180°C/160°C/350°F, and bake for a further 25-30 minutes, uncovering after 20 minutes if necessary. Do not slice until completely cooled. —— Tips: Compote: As soon as the cornstarch is mixed in, keep stirring well to prevent it from sticking. If you don’t want to pre-bake, sprinkle 1 handful (of spoonfuls) of sponge cake, rusk or biscuit crumbs or 1 tablespoon of juice stopper (also available as wafers) into the compote. If you like, you can flavor the plum compote with something strong. The leftover plum juice (as well as cherry juice) from the glasses is delicious as a spritzer with plenty of mineral water. — With half the amount of batter – without eggs! – you can also make a plum crumble: Bake the compote in an ovenproof pie dish or casserole dish with the crumbles as a dessert with ice cream, vanilla sauce or semi-whipped vanilla cream.