Oven Roasted Plum Cake inspired by Baking with Julia

"Who is Julia Child?" asked the Man.

With a puckered eyebrows I innocently answered I don't know.
It happened one night almost 6 years back after watching the movie, Julie & Julia. I never realised that Julie Powel and Julia Child would become the significant parts of my life.
I was then struggling with my baby steps into  blogging food blogging, with a very knowledge about Food and the who's who. I had already completed my stay in USA for 3 three years and gave birth to an adorable daughter. Though I had started blogging a long time back, the pregnancy and the postpartum blues somehow restricted to divulge the blog to continue.When I was able to grapple with all the odds I started blogging again. And that time as a full-time Food Blogger after almost 2 years.  Julie & Julia, the movie influenced and inspired me like a rain shower after a decade in a desert. I tied up my apron, infused the character of Julie Powel in me and reign over the kitchen copying each and every move of Julie and vigorously concentrated on blogging. I sat with my Laptop like Julie, I cooked like Julie, I talked like Julie. It might sound very childish and funny but yes it is Julie and Julie. Julia Child was then never in my thought or in my mind.
I had never thought then that almost after six years I would fall in love with Julia Child. My experiences and knowledge regarding the culinary world helped me to grow each day more matured. Now the scene at my home is a bit different. To my surprise, my eight year old daughter is all head over heel in love with the movie Julie & Julia. Her main love is for Julie Powel, where I focus my concentration on Julia Child. When I asked my daughter: 
"Why do you like this movie?" 
She answered back: "Because I love blogging and Cooking."
 I guess when you have a food blogger mum at home the influence may sound like this. :)

As a surprise gift, I received the book Baking with Julia  and the DVD of Julie & Julia from my husband a year ago. He is much aware of my fascination to imitate Julie Powel, how she blogs and Cooks and a springing up respect and likeness towards Julia Child. At the same time my weakness towards baking that I am nurturing from a long time. In the meantime, I have already finished reading Julia Child 's  My life in France and possessed the Mastering the art of French Cooking Volume 1 & 2. So the gift from him was like winning some treasure all of a sudden. While browsing through the book, I almost bookmarked all the recipes to give them a try. The book is a compilation of sweet and savoury baked recipes where many reputed bakers have contributed too. They are pretty easy, very well explained and perfect for the beginner. I found some fresh plums from our local market. So decided to try this recipe first. We were about to spend few days in our other house in Newtown when I thought of baking something over there. So I took all the ingredients with me and the book  but forgotten to take the measuring cups and spoons. Immediately my heart sank down when I was about tart it. I felt like I saw some nightmare suddenly. But since I was baking for a long time, I made myself calm down, eyeballed the measurement and made it. And yes it came out perfect. As a baker, it was a great achievement for me that experience did help one to resolve the odd situation. But yes this is also true that if the measurements are not proportionate, the outcome of a baking goodie fails most of the times. So here is the recipe. Give it try, as I am sure your kids and family members will love it.

{Recipe adapted from Baking with Julia. Contributing Baker: Marcel Desaulniers}

Ingredients:
(I follow the measurement as per the given recipe)

All purpose Flour - 1 cup

Butter - 100gm + little more for greasing (Room temperature. The recipe asked for unsalted but I used Amul butter)

Brown Sugar: 2/3 cup

Granulated sugar 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tspn

Baking Soda: 3/4 tspn

Buttermilk 1/4 cup

Ripe plums, pitted and halved - 3-4

Method:

1. Mix nicely the Flour and the baking soda and keep aside.

2. In another bowl mix the butter with the two types of sugar at a time until blended properly.

3. Add  one egg at a time and blend.

4. Add the vanilla essence and butter milk. Blend.

5. Now slowly fold the flour in the egg and mix nicely.

6 Pre-heat the oven at 180-degree centigrade for 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Take 6 to 8 ramekins or cupcake molds. Grease them nicely with butter.

8. Pour the batter filling half of the each cups.

9 Take one of the half plums and slightly push it down on the top of the batter. Make sure to keep the skin side down and the cut side up of the plum. Do the same with the other cups.

10. Sprinkle some brown sugar on the top of the plum and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick prick inside comes out clean.

11. Let it get cooled completely then slowly with the help of a sharp knife running on the side of the cake slowly demould it.

Note:

1. When we use fresh fruits in a cake to bake, the cake becomes a bit soggy and will look under cooked from inside. So don't worry, enjoy eating the cake.

2. I have used peach and strawberry with the same recipe and it came out perfect.

It is not a plum season know. But it is in my draft since a long time. So found it right time to post to celebrate the season of baking.

This recipe is off to the Baking event hosted by Kolkata Food Bloggers:

Whole Chicken Roast basted with homemade Apricot & Plum Sauce

Buying OTG has become a boon for us which has opened the door of heaven where we can taste the succulent meat roast. The incredible taste of roasted meat can't be got in a Convection Micro-oven. Now I am a proud Kitchen Queen where I most of the time welcome whole chicken roasts  at our dinner table and my daughter too, often insists to have it. A roasted whole chicken tastes better when you bake it with skin. But the man of the house always prefers skinned chicken. So I have to prepare it always without skin. Last time I tried Balsamic Herb RoastedChicken and that turned out a finger smacking dish. This time I tried a different version of roasting a whole chicken.

This season's last bunch of fresh Apricots and Plums were laying around without any fixed preparation in mind how I could use them. I didn't want to use them in  any dessert. So just the thought came to use them in a savoury dish. So I tried making a sauce out of Apricot and Plum and marinated it with chicken and roasted it. And to my surprise it again turned out a lip smacking dish. We enjoyed the dish till the last bite. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

 For the Sauce:

Fresh Apricot- 5-6 (Seeded and Sliced)

Fresh Plum- 5-6  (Seeded and Sliced)

Wine Vinegar: 1/4 cup

White Paper Powder: 1/2 tea spoon

Salt- 1/4 tea spoon (+ more)

Sugar- 3 tea spoons (More or less.  See Notes)

Garlic-5-6 cloves

Olive oil- 1 tea spoon

Dry Onion Flakes- 1 tea spoon (I used store bought)

Water- 1 cup

Marinate the Chicken:

Lemon - 1/2 of one

Salt- 1 tea spoon

Method:

1. First marinate the chicken by rubbing salt and Lemon all over it for an hour or so. Don't forget to slit  the flesh of the chicken with a sharp knife so that the juice of the sauce goes well inside the whole chicken.
2. Let us make the sauce now.  Fry the garlic in olive oil. Add everything under Sauce along with the fried garlic and boil for 8-10mnts. Cool it and make a smooth paste .
3. Pour it over the whole chicken and marinate it for at list couple of hours.
4. Power on the OTG. Set the temperature at 220 C degree. Put the Chicken on the rotisserie.  Don't discard the sauce, reserve. Bake for 30mnts. Then brush the chicken with the remaining sauce and reserve the leftover if there is any. Bake for 30mnts more.
5. Then take out the roasted chicken.
6. In a pan heat a 1/2 tspn oil and add the sauce and cook in low flame till it gets thicken. Glaze the roasted chicken with the sauce and enjoy.

Note:

I had some extra sauce. So I grilled some mushroom and sauteed them with the sauce and they came out real nice..

This is my entry for the Blogging Marathon that we Kolkata Food Bloggers have started. The concept behind it is to post in alternative days in the remaining day of August. At the same time we will have frequent posting and get rid of the drafts those which have been resting in the folders for decades. The Mastermind behind this event is Sayantani who blogs at A Homemaker's Diary.

The other Kolkata Food Bloggers who will be participating in this Marathon are:

1. Amrita - Vishal @ http://amritavishal127.blogspot.in/

2. Archita @ http://architashomecooking.blogspot.in/

3. Indrani @ http://riappyayan.blogspot.in/ 

4. Sayantani @ ahomemakersdiary.com