As the golden sunshine of late summer mellows into the gentle autumn mists, red and purple plums are at their juicy, sweet best. Make the most of these red and purple beauties with this simple baking recipe that’s just the kind of comfort food we want to see us through the change of season!

We’ve taken a traditional - and easy - recipe for plum cake and laced it with just a hint of warming, fruity and sweet sloe gin liqueur. And oh my, is it delicious!

You can go for the full-on rich flavours of sloe gin by making a two-ingredient glaze to cover your cake, or opt for a subtler hint of the liqueur by simply soaking your plums in the sloe gin before adding them to the cake batter. We love both options but for a real hit of delicious, deep flavour - go for the glaze!

You can buy sloe gin on our online shop or, if you’ve got the time and inclination, why not try making a batch of your own liqueur? We’ve got a super-easy recipe for homemade sloe gin that you can try if you’ve picked a load of sloes recently and aren’t sure what to do with them!

This recipe would also be just as delicious with damsons instead of (or as well as) plums, and you could even swop out the fruit and sloe gin for a similar combination of seasonal autumn fruit, such as apple and blackberry liqueur or pear and ginger liqueur.

We love this cake on its own, but it’s perhaps best served with a delicious dollop of thick clotted cream or ice cream (and a sloe gin hot chocolate, if you’re so inclined!) Happy baking!

Sloe Gin Plum Cake

• Prep time: 25 mins
  
• Cook time: 1 hr 30 mins
  
• Total time: approx. 2 hours
  
  Servings: 8-10
  
  Ingredients:
  
  
• 200g butter (room temperature)
  
• 6-8 ripe plums
  
• A few tbsps of sloe gin
  
• 140g golden caster sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• grated zest 1 large lemon
  
• 175g self-raising flour
  100ml milk
  Sloe Gin Glaze (optional)
  
• 4 large tbsp plum jam
  
• 35ml sloe gin (plus a little extra for soaking the plums, if desired)
  
  Method:
  
  

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 9-inch springform tin.

2. Wash your plums, remove the stones and slice into thin-medium wedges (a few mm thick). Try to make them a similar crescent-moon shape, so that the top of your cake looks pretty.

3. For an added layer of flavour, leave your plum slices to soak in a little sloe gin while you prepare the cake batter.

4. In this order, beat together the butter and sugar; the eggs; lemon zest; the flour, then the milk. Your batter should be a smooth dropping consistency.

5. Now carefully push the plum slices into the top of the batter in concentric circles. Bake for approx. one hour or until golden brown on top and springy to the touch.

6. Once cooked, leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes before removing from the tin.

7. If you’re adding a sloe gin glaze: In a non-stick pan, gently heat the plum jam with the sloe gin, stirring with a wooden spoon until the jam has dissolved and the sloe gin liqueur has reduced to form a smooth syrup. You can add a little drop or two of water during the process if you need to.

8. Remove the cake from the tin. Once completely cool, drizzle or brush the cake all over with the sloe gin glaze then leave to set. You can pop the cake in the fridge for an hour to speed up the process, if you like.