This cake is ideal for saying goodbye to the summer and celebrating the beginning of autumn with the warmth of spices and sloes, a fruit that is often overlooked and appears during this time of transition.

When I saw this recipe, I admit that I feared that mixing cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom with a fruit other than apples or pears, might not go very well...

But I surrendered to this mixture of flavors, not to mention the lightness of the dough and the succulence of the sloes that created small creamy pockets all over the cake.

The ingredients

• Sloes - it is advisable for this cake to choose sloes that are not too ripe because they are more difficult to slice and are too juicy.
• Egg - you only need 1 egg to bind all the other elements.
• Flour - common wheat flour or a mix of gluten-free flours can be used, which works equally well.
• Baking powder - if you use self-raising flour, you can omit the baking powder mentioned in the recipe.
• Sugar - for this sloe cake I preferred to use brown sugar (my favorite is this sugar-stevia blend), and that's what I used to sprinkle over the fruit.
• Butter
• Milk - vegetable milk can be used to replace cow's milk, such as almond, oat, or rice.
• Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cardamom - it is the combination of these 3 spices that turn this fruit cake into something special, but in order not to overpower the flavor of sloes, I decided to reduce the original quantities.
• Vanilla - is optional, but its presence always improves the flavor of cakes.

   

How to make

• In a bowl mix the flour with the baking powder.
• Add cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt.
• Apart, beat the butter well (at room temperature) with the sugar until it dissolves and we get a soft cream.
• Add the egg and vanilla, mixing well.
• Milk is added little by little, alternating with portions of the flour mixture, involving well but without beating too much so as not to activate the gluten. Reserve.
• The sloes are washed, cut in half and the stones are removed.
• Each half of the fruit is then cut in half (each sloe then yields 4 similar portions).
• The preparation is poured into a removable ring pan greased and sprinkled with flour.
• The sloes pieces are then arranged in a circle over the dough and are pressed lightly to enter the cake's dough.
• Sprinkle with a little sugar over the fruit (as I forgot this step, I just sprinkled the cake halfway through cooking and therefore the sugar was more at the surface).
• Bake at 180ºC for 30 to 35 minutes. 

Sloes and spices cake recipe

Ingredients

180 gr of flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
100 gr of butter
200 gr of sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
125 ml of milk
8 sloes
1 to 2 tablespoons of sugar for sprinkling

1. You start by mixing the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, spices, and salt.
2. Apart, beat the butter with the sugar until you get a soft cream.
3. Add the egg and vanilla.
4. Gradually, and alternating, add the milk and flour mixture, mixing well but without beating too much.
5. The sloes are washed, the stones are removed and cut into 4 similar pieces.
6. The preparation is poured into a removable ring pan greased and sprinkled with flour.
7. The  fruit pieces are arranged in a circle over the dough.
8. Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit.
9. Bake at 180ºC for 30 to 35 minutes.

Adapted from "Late summer plum cake"