Pistachio, buckwheat and lemon cake with honeyed plums (GF)

Anything but ordinary, both in texture and flavor

Published originally on my blog on 19 October 2015

I was going to tell you about the sunny days we were having. About the clear blue skies and the seducing starry nights. About our walks in the woods and the time we discovered a little wild mushroom village. Or the time when we unexpectedly stumbled upon my dream house; a big one made of Dutch red brick in the middle of the forest, surrounded by tall trees, with a huge thatched roof and small white windows peaking out of it, and a wooden yellow front door. I didn’t take a photo. I didn’t feel the need to. Some images have the ability to sneak into your mind, stay there forever without you even realizing it, until, suddenly, they return, unannounced, and awaken hidden desires. That house will pop into my mind again in the future, I’m sure, and I may stumble upon it on another walk in the woods.

But I have other things to tell you; about sweet flavors and honeyed plums, about a dreamy cake and the irresistible aroma that emanated from the oven while it was baking, about its sweet and earthy taste, the plums sitting on top and the crimson juices that stained our plates. About the vibrancy of the lemon, the unsurpassed flavor of buckwheat and all that it can bring to baked goods, about the ground pistachios and almonds, crunchy inside the fluffy and moist cake, giving it texture and body.

Yes, that’s what I want to tell you today; because there’s no better place to be when the cold autumn days come than in the kitchen, baking pastries and cakes and all kinds of sweet and savory things that warm you up, body and soul, that take you out of your routine and arouse your senses with their flavor. Just like this cake did.

This cake that’s anything but ordinary, both in texture and flavor; made with buckwheat flour, ground pistachios and almonds, dark brown sugar and honey, lemon and red plums; extremely light, airy, fluffy and moist with a crunchy texture from the nuts and soft, juicy plums on top; with the unadulterated, pure taste of honey, the gentle acidity of the lemon balancing the sweetness, and the mellow bitterness of the buckwheat that brings almost a savoriness to the cake that is unique. It’s not very sweet but it rather leaves you with a whiff of honey sweetness and a nuttiness that lingers as an aroma through your palate and nose, while the taste of the red plums enriches the flavors and makes the cake truly special. It makes you want to eat it all, in one go.

Bake this, enjoy it, take a piece with you on a walk through the woods on a cold autumn day and listen to this track. Put on your headphones, listen to it as loud as you can and lose yourself in your thoughts, your feelings, your desires.

Pistachio, buckwheat and lemon cake with honeyed plums (gluten free)

I love using alternative flours like buckwheat because they give a beautiful, nutty flavor to baked goods unlike white flour. These types of flours, though, tend to make cakes dry and dense; not in this case. The fluffy texture of the cake is achieved by the addition of a meringue that’s folded in the rest of the cake’s ingredients whereas the honey, soft dark brown sugar and egg yolks are the ingredients that give the cake its moistness.