Plums and Plummeting

I was so lucky to have a coworker give me some plums on Friday.  They are from his home, and were delicious.  And it gave me the great idea to do some baking.

I found a great torte recipe that I modified to Plum Torte Upsidedown Cupcakes!

8 medium plums, pitted and halved
1 cup flour
4 Tblsp uncooked old fashioned oats
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 large egg whites
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350. Spray 16 muffin tins with non-stick baking spray. Place 1 plum half in the bottom of each muffin spot with the skin side down.
• In a small bowl mix together flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
• In a large bowl beat together the egg whites until peaks form.  Gradually add in 2/3 cup sugar and continue beating.  Set aside.
• In another large bowl mix whole eggs and remaining 2/3 cup sugar until thick.
• Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the whole egg mixture.  Then add half the dry ingredients.  Add remaining egg whites to the mixture and then the remaining dry ingredients.
• Spoon batter on top of plums.  Leave a bit of room at the top, the tortes will raise a little during baking.
• Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until brown and firm.  Cool in pans and then remove and serve upside down.

I am so the master of the egg whites!

I ended up with some extra batter and decided to make some coffee cake with it. I just sprinkled some brown sugar and walnuts on top, and baked it!

Final result-Delicious!

So in other news, Saturday was Portland’s Adult Soap Box Derby Race. How fun!  The race was held in heats of three cars running down the side of an extinct volcano in SE Portland.  It was pretty crazy, but we saw some fun sights and it was great people watching. Here are some photos to make it feel like you were there too.