Italian Plum Cake, aka summer fruit cake

The last day of official summer has sadly come and gone this week, but here in Vancouver we are still clinging to it.  The sun is fighting valiantly to stay out for another few days (or weeks??), and I am still baking with late summer fruits, trying stave off winter.  Growing up we spent most of our long summer days outside at the barn, which had two large Italian plum trees heavy with fruit at the end of the summer.  I would bring home giant brown paper bags of plums, and once I'd eaten my fill, I of course needed to bake with the rest.  I remember using a classic simple delicious cake recipe, that I have lost over the years.  However when I saw italian plums popping up this summer it made me want to recreate that cake.

Summer Blackberry Lemon Buttermilk Cake

The current weather has made this a confusing time of year to be in London.  Many of the days (even the sunny ones) seem to have dark grey storm clouds always looming nearby and surprise wind and/or rain storms might appear at any moment.  And most of us have basically accepted that summer is sadly over, even though its still August... However, there is still one small part of summer holding on, and that is the ripe beautiful blackberries around every corner.  The last few weeks I have found myself stopping multiple times mid run, as I've stumbled upon yet another patch of missed, forgotten, delicious, plump, black berries.

If you find yourself with a spare cup of berries, this summery cake is a brilliant use of them.  I've adapted the recipe by kicking up the lemon flavor with a sugary glaze on top, making a delicious tart, yet sweet, light cake, that leaves you wanting "just one more slice."  This cake is fast to whip up, and a great addition to summer pot lucks or barbeques.  I usually use blackberries in this recipe, but it does great with any type of berry you have lying around the house, and the original recipe calls for raspberry.