Plum season is in full flow at the moment and the country lanes near where I live are scattered with the fallen fruit of a wide variety and colour of wild plum trees. I hate seeing fruit go to waste, left to be squashed underfoot or pecked at by the birds and the bees, and so on a recent walk I went armed with a couple of buckets and picked to my hearts content. It’s been a very good year for fruit and the trees were literally sagging under the weight of all the plums. Look at how many I gathered in under an hour and there were plenty more.
I found a couple of different varieties, including some teeny tiny little red plums that were wonderfully sweet and a beautiful golden colour on the inside. They were so teeny tiny in fact that I was able to de-stone them using a cherry stoner, leaving the fruit itself intact. I stewed half the plums into a compote which I adore with yoghurt, but I also wanted to bake something with them and decided on a plum kuchen.
Kuchen means ‘cake’ in German but it often represents a certain type of cake. To me it means a dough, yeasted or not, topped with fruit and some more crumbled dough before being baked and served in slices. Some kuchen also include a base layer of custard but I decided to keep mine simple and use only fruit. I used a yeasted dough to which I added a little cardamom as I thought this would go nicely with the plums, but cinnamon would work just as well if you prefer. I fully intended to reserve some of the dough and crumble it over the top of the plums, but I forgot and didn’t realise until after it was in the oven – opps. I don’t think it mattered too much though.
I used a variety of sliced and whole teeny tiny plums and they tasted wonderful once baked, sweet and full flavoured with the juices running down and being absorbed into the dough. I liked it best when eaten slightly warm.
Plum Kuchen
Ingredients50g butter
125ml milk
250g plain flour
Pinch of salt
50g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cardomom
15g fresh yeast or 3tsp instant dried yeast
1 egg
750g plums, stones removed
2 tbsp extra sugar
Method
Melt the butter, stir in the milk and crumble in the fresh or dried yeast and leave to stand for a few minutes.
Put the flour, salt, sugar, vanilla and cardamom into a large bowl and mix together. Lightly beat the egg and pour over the dry mix along with the yeasty milk mixture.
Use the tips of your fingers to bring the mixture together to form a dough, it will be slightly sticky.
Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead for 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and silky to the touch.
Return the dough to the bowl and cover with clingfilm or a tea towel and place in a sunny spot to prove until doubled in volume, about 1hour.
Meanwhile, prepare the plums. Wash them well, remove the stones and cut into halves or quarters depending on size. (I also found some tiny plums that I was able to remove the stones with a cherry stoner and leave whole).
Preheat the oven to 165C. Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back and then stretch it into the base of a 22cm cake tin or an 18cm x 30cm pan.
Arrange the plums over the surface of the dough, packing them in tightly.
Sprinkle over the extra sugar and bake for 35-40 minutes until the plums are soft and juicy and the dough beneath golden brown, ensure the dough is fully cooked in the centre.
Allow to cool until just warm before removing from the tin and serving in slices. Great eaten warm and best eaten within 2 days.
Note: If you want you can reserve a portion of the dough and crumble it over the top of the plums before baking, but this is not essential.
I was staying near Lincoln Square which is a quiet street lined with a great selection of restaurants, cafes, bars and specialist shops. Selmarie is a café located right in the centre. They provide a selection of light meals and snacks but it is their wonderful selection of cakes and pastries that drew my attention. On entering the café my eye was instantly drawn to the red velvet cupcakes, a cupcake I have heard much about yet had never tried. It seemed the perfect selection for my first cupcake in America. For anyone who doesn’t know, a red velvet cupcake comprises of a chocolate cake tinted red, topped with a cream cheese frosting. The cupcake looked very attractive with its swirl of cream cheese frosting and pretty red flower. The cake was nicely textured with a good reddy-brown colour. The crumb was a little dry but it was quite late at night when I visited, so it had probably dried out a bit during the day. It had just the right amount of cream cheese frosting which was thick and creamy with a tangy fresh taste. I thought the little red flower on top was a nice touch too.
While exploring downtown we hunted out a Hershey’s store which sells a wide selection of Hershey’s goodies including kisses, bars, enormous bottles of chocolate syrup and an assortment of peanut butter cups. Check out the size of the syrup bottles and giant kisses compared to the coffee mugs at the left-hand side – they’re enormous!
The shop also contained a bakery selling giant peanut butter cup cookies, brownies studded with kisses and assorted cupcakes. I love Hershey’s peanut butter cups and so couldn’t resist a chocolate cupcake topped a mound of peanut butter frosting and a mini peanut butter cup. They came in two sized but I got the smaller one and shared it with T. There was almost as much frosting as cake but I was pleased to find it wasn’t too rich or sweet and wonderfully peanutty. The chocolate cupcake was chocolaty and moist and the mini peanut cup was yummy – you needed a big bite to fit it all in – open wide! I also got a couple of bags on cinnamon chips, I have been huinting for these for months.
This was a lovely cupcake and cookie shop with a little seating area inside that you could sit at and watch the workers in the bake baking cupcakes while munching a sweet treat. It had a lovely atmosphere and I loved how you could watch the staff making cupcakes, it really confirmed that everything was freshly made. We weren’t all that hungry when we visited as we’d just had lunch, so T and I shared a banana pudding, another America treat I had been longing to try. It consisted of a thick banana flavoured custard style ‘pudding’ layered with fresh banana and vanilla wafers. The pudding was thick and creamy and very comforting. Not unlike a trifle with its fruit and wafer layers. They also sold some fab looking pies, tarts, bars and cookies.
T and I happened upon this place by accident while on my way home after an evening out. We went over to investigate and tried the door but they were closed. We began to turn away when the door was opened by one of the staff. We asked if we could have a look inside and take some photos and they agreed. Most of the shelves had been cleared away but there were still a few cupcakes on stands and while I was taking photo T explained that I had a blog and was visiting from the UK. They had a great selection of some more interesting flavoured cupcakes including some gluten free options and ones suitable for vegans. 
They also sold T-shirts and I loved their little badges with the phrase “cupcakes make people happy” I couldn’t agree more and bought one which is now attached to my bag for all to see. The staff were so friendly even though it was after hours and as we were leaving they presented us with a free red velvet cupcake each!! It was a little squatter and wider than a normal cupcake, but this meant it was easier to eat both cake and frosting in one bite. The cake was so light and moist and the cream cheese topping perfectly creamy and sweet. The cupcakes were a little more pricy but totally worth it - my favourite cupcake shop all visit.
This place looks a little dated from the outside but they sold a fantastic selection of cookies and some simply enormous cupcakes. I tried some of the Mexican wedding cookies and they were wonderfully short and buttery, just melted in the mouth and studded with finely ground pecans and covered in a dusting of icing sugar. The perfect dainty cookie. I loved how they decorated their cupcakes to look like flowers, a bit different to the usual swirl style. They were very tender and freshly baked tasting. Everything was very reasonably priced. They also sold a wide selection of sweet and savoury breads and pastries. A great find.
Set in a hollow at the base of the John Hancock Building is The Cheesecake Factory. This place looks a little like something you might expect to see in a Flintstones film, swooping lines, rustic colours and very funky. It is THE place to go for cheesecake downtown. They have a café where you can have a sit down lunch before enjoying a slice of cheesecake, or a fast track take away cheesecake counter located just inside the doors. Even if you don’t like cheesecake this place is worth a visit just to goggle at the fantastic variety and flavour combinations of cheesecake available. The price is a little expensive, but the slices are very generous and the wonderfulness of the cheesecake makes it completely worth it. I had been told about this place and actually walked for an hour to reach it (I got a little lost on the way) and so felt nothing but pure indulgent pleasure at wolfing down a giant slice by myself. 
I was sorely tempted by the carrot cake cheesecake – vanilla cheesecake studded with real carrot cake and covered in chopped nuts, but chose instead the Oreo cheesecake for a true American experience. This consisted of an Oreo cookie crust, creamy vanilla cheesecake layered with Oreo cookies and topped with a large swirl of sweetened cream. I got mine to take away and it was served with another enormous swirl of cream – talk about over the top – but wow it was soooo good.
Situated a little way outside of the city is Eli’s Cheesecake World, which is a genuine commercial cheesecake factory, complete with an on site café and shop. At 1pm, most days, they are open to the public for factory tours. The tour starts with a meet and greet and a little history about Eli’s cheesecake before everyone dons very attractive hairnets and enters the factory where you get to watch first hand as a team of people create magnificent looking cheesecakes. They were working on tiramisu and caramel banana cheesecakes while I was there – they looked so good. We also got to watch as an employee showed us how they finished off and decorated the cheesecakes, with each of us being allowed to pick a topping to decorate it with. Make sure you are paying attention throughout the tour as one lucky person won the cheesecake at the end of the tour, unfortunately it wasn’t me. We all then went back to the café area where we were treated to a complementary slice of cheesecake. I chose the snicker cheesecake – vanilla cheesecake with caramel and peanuts, while T had the turtle cheesecake – caramel cheesecake with pecans, caramel and chocolate, both delicious and very creamy. You can also buy extra slices or whole cheesecakes to take away with you and they had a great variety. The key lime cheesecake looked particularly good.
This bakery is Mexican inspired and was a great find. They had stacks of freshly baked pastries and sweet and savoury filled buns, very cheaply priced considering the quality. I got a pineapple jam filled pastry which comprised of a sweet yeasted dough and a yummy sticky pineapple jam filling.
WOW this place is amazing! We happened upon this place by accident. It’s an ice cream store with a difference. You choose a fresh yoghurt or liquid ice cream base, add the flavour and colour of your choice along with any number of add-ins you wish. This mixture is then poured into the bowl of a specially adapted mixer, the beaters are started and then liquid nitrogen is sprayed into the bowl from overhead pipes, freezing your ice cream concoction instantly! It was amazing to watch and produced the smoothest creamiest ice cream imaginable! You certainly couldn’t get any fresher than this and all custom made – so cool!
As the name suggests this chain sells an amazing selection of pancakes, waffles, crepes and breakfast savories set in a traditional American diner style. T and I went here for lunch on my last day and I got ridiculously excited upon seeing the menu – such a lot of indulgent choices – it was so hard to choose. In the end I went with whole-wheat oat, almond and walnut pancakes accompanied by cinnamon spiced apples and a swirl of cream. They came accompanied by a selection of four syrups for you to drizzle over yourself, just in case they weren’t indulgent enough!
I was presented with a plate of four HUGE pancakes, each one was about the size of a saucer. I only managed about half but they tasted so so good, fluffy, nutty, spicy and drizzled in blueberry syrup mmmmm. It makes me smile just to think of them. A must try for anyone in the area, plus they are open 24hrs so you’ve no excuse not to visit. Just make sure you have a big appetite when you go.
Now called the Willis Tower. It’s the tallest building in Chicago and visitors can visit the skydeck top floor for fantastic panoramic views of the city. They also have glass floored and walled balconies that extend out into the air. It’s quite thrilling stepping out onto one seemingly unsupported. Very long queues but worth the wait.
Strawberry Mousse
Preheat the oven to 190C and line a 20cm x 30cm swiss roll tin with baking paper.
Destalk the strawberries and blitz them in a food processor until smooth. Press the puree though a sieve to remove most of the seeds and set aside.
Wrap the bases of 8 deep ring moulds with cling film or have 8 tumbler glasses to hand. Cut out circles of sponge and place in the base of the moulds or glasses.
I really enjoyed making my own blueberry preserve for this cake, rather than relying on a jar. Quite a thin spreading is used to sandwich the cakes together and as it’s the only filling I initially thought it looked a little stingy but the depth and intensity of the blueberry flavour really shone through and it was more than sufficient. I loved its deep purple colour too, a perfect contrast to the pale creamy cake layers and frosting.
Lemon Cake Layers
375g blueberries, fresh or frozen
225g caster sugar
If you are wanting to make your own jams using fruit that’s low in pectin then it’s best to try and combine it with a fruit that’s high in pectin. This is why you might often see blackberry and apple jam, for not only do they taste good together but the high pectin apple helps set and low pectin blackberries.
Ingredients
