Sugarplum Buttermilk Coffeecake

The stone fruits are out in full force and even though I cringed at the thought of turning on the oven in the July heat and humidity, I did it anyway.  Lately, I find tons of recipes I want to try with fruit and they get tossed aside and we just eat the fruit.  It’s all so fresh and easy right now.

But these little sugarplums were so pretty and I’ve been wanting to try Heidi Swanson‘s Buttermilk Cake from Supernatural Everyday since I got the book.  Hers is healthier if you want a version that’s a little lighter, but I looooove the top of a coffeecake, so we went with it.  It turned out to be an extra bonus of amazing – I messed up making the topping the first time around (which happens when you have kids sticking fingers into batter and trying to steal cooking instruments and asking when it’ll be done so they can lick the bowls) and melted the butter.  I wasn’t thinking.  So I added it anyway, crossing my fingers that it would turn out gooey like the stuff inside of a cinnamon roll.  It didn’t, but it changed the topping and caramelized everything on top and made it crispy and incredible.  Best mistake I’ve made in a while!

Sugarplum Buttermilk Coffeecake:

{adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Buttermilk Cake in Supernatural Every Day: Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen}

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease an 11″ quiche pan or 9″x9″ baking dish. Melt 1/4 cup butter and set aside to cool to room temperature.  Cut 6-8 sugarplums into thin slices and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, mix 2.5 cups cake flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder and  3/4 cup sugar.  In a separate bowl, whisk 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1.5 cups buttermilk.  Add egg, vanilla and buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix.  Once mixed completely, add the cooled melted butter and mix until completely incorporated.  Pour into prepared pan and top with sliced sugarplums, pushing some of the plums down into the cake.  For the topping: Melt another 1/4 cup of butter.  Mix the melted butter, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup tightly pack brown sugar and 1/2 cup flour.  Sprinkle and spread evenly around on top of the batter and plums.  If you want to be crazy and fill your life with butter and sugar, you can make this same mixture again but instead of melting the butter, use cold butter cut into tiny cubes and the other topping ingredients and pulse in a food processor until just mixed and sprinkle that on top of the cake as well, though it was admittedly a bit much.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

A few notes: I think this cake would be especially amazing with peaches or nectarines or berries of any sort or apples in the fall or winter.  The original version of this cake calls for lemon zest in the cake batter. I left it out knowing that I’d be putting the topping on and it wouldn’t be quite right with the cinnamon, but I think it would be lovely and fresh  if you left off the topping and wanted something a little less heavy, especially since it’s summertime.