Damson plum upside-down cake

I have recently been the grateful recipient of a large quantity of Damson Plums thanks to the generosity of nature and a friend with a Damson tree. Some of these plums will get made into Damson Vodka, others will go towards Damson Jam. But the first thing I did was turn some of these plums - super soft, ripe and sweet - into a cake.

I was inspired by my friend (and pastry chef) Kathy to go for an upside down cake. She did something very similar with her plums last August and aptly pointed out that a recipe like this will help you get through a pound and a half or so of plums in an extremely delicious way (very handy if you have a lot of plums to get through).

Upside down cakes are really easy to make, but usually the reserve for pineapples (and if you’re going that route, I do recommend Marcus Wareing's Pineapple Upside-Down Cake). Plums offer a nice twist on this, with a hint of spice in the cake complimenting the autumnal plums. If you don’t have a cake pan that is large enough to fit all of the batter called for in this recipe, you can make smaller mini upside down cakes in ramekins which are really fun.

I really love this plum upside down cake served with crème fraîche or Greek yoghurt, but vanilla ice cream or whipped cream would go equally well.