Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup plus 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 pound plums, pitted and cut into 1/4 inch thick wedges (in the picture I used prune plums and sliced them)
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• oil for the pan
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place orange juice and 1/3 cup sugar in a large saucepan, and cook on low until sugar is melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until syrupy, 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove from heat, add plums and zest, and set aside, tossing occasionally, until cool.
2. Oil a 9 inch round cake pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, oil parchment. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a second bowl, beat the butter and the remaining 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla.
4. Add the flour to the wet mixture in three parts, alternating with buttermilk, beating just until incorporated.
5. Working in concentric circles starting from the center, arrange enough plum slices, overlapping slightly, to cover the bottom of the pain. Spoon juice from bowl over top. (Since I used prune plums, I just spooned them into the pan in an even layer.) Cut the remaining plums into 1/2 inch pieces and fold the plums into the batter. Spoon batter over plums in pan.
6. Bake until cake is light-golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 65-70 minutes.
7. Let cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Place serving platter over top of pan and invert. Remove cake pan and peel off parchment. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

Active: 45 minutes

Total time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Serves: approx.10