Santa Rosa Plum Coffee cake...and a glass of rose to boot

I recently aquired a set of wine glasses. A set being two, both of which are mildly chipped, therefore deemed unusable by the restaurant I work at, resulting in my new set of wine glasses. Prior to my receipt of these glasses I enjoyed wine out of whatever was available; usually a coffee cup, sometimes a mason jar. I still enjoyed it. I'm not too picky when it comes to that kind of thing. But, you know, I gotta say...there's something about having a cold, crisp glass of wine out of an actual wine glass that really makes me feel classy. This doesn't happen often, so I've got to take it where I can get it.

It's these little things that I've come to appreciate as of late. So far, it's been a very lazy July for me. Aside from baking and showing up at work, I haven't been doing much else. I do laundry and it sits in the basket, clean and unfolded, until I've worn it all and it's dirty laundry again. My couch that pulls out into a queen size bed, has also become a desk and a dining room table. These are some of the perks of living alone.I know, I'm not painting such a pretty picture of the simple life, but really it's great. One of the best parts about living alone is that it's completley acceptable for all parties involved to have coffee cake and a glass of rose for dinner any night of the week. This particular combination is most enjoyable if and when the coffee cake is laden with Santa Rosa Plums from your Grandpa's tree. I'm just sayin'...

If you are not lucky enough to have a grandfather that grows these juicy, purple -skinned, red- fleshed plums, you can still make this gorgeous layered coffee cake with any stone fruit variety. The original inspiration for this recipe came from a recipe for Blackberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake I found a few years ago. I have baked this cake in so many different forms, tweaking it ever so slightly here and there along the way and the following is what I've come up with. The cake layer of this is an adaptation of a recipe for "Elvis' Favorite Pound Cake" from epicurious.com. I figured, if it was good enough for the king, it was good enough for me.

Santa Rosa Plum and Cream Cheese Coffee Cake with Oatmeal Struesel

makes 2 9"x5" loaf pans

For the plums:

oven 350

10 Santa Rosa Plums, cut in 1/2, pits removed

1/4 cup sugar

Sprinkle sugar into the bottom of a pyrex dish. Lay plums cut side down in a single layer. Roast until soft, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool completley before using. This step can be done in advance.

Cake:

2/3 cup butter, room temperaure

2 cups SIFTED cake flour (measure after sifting)

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

2/3 cup sour cream

Sift the flour a total of three times, add salt. Beat butter and sugar about 5 minutes Add eggs 1 at a time, add vanilla and almond extracts. Reduce speed to low and add 1/2 of the flour, then all of the sour cream, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the rest of the flour and increase speed to medium. Continue to beat for a full 5 minutes.

Divide into 2 buttered and floured pans. Top each cake with 1/2 of the cream cheese filling*. Sprinkle with spiced sugar*, top with cooled plums and 1/2 recipe of oat cardamom struesel.When you bake these, the struesel will sink down into the middle and the cake with bake up around it.

*recipes below

Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes, turning half way through. Cake tester should come out clean. Cool in pan, and then on a wire rack until completley cool. Will freeze for up to a month wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/tsp vanilla

1 TBSP flour

pinch of salt

Cream together all ingredients until smooth.

Spice Sugar Mix

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1 tsp orange zest

pinch salt

pinch nutmeg