Tofino Gooey Plum Butter Cake
The power of suggestion is strong with me. Plant an idea and it sits there, taking up space that could very well be used for something far more useful, until I do something with it. Case in point: the St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake.
All the cool kids are making it. It was, in fact, on my decades-old to-make list, but the version I had utilized a sugary, buttery goo poured over a particular brand of (stale) packaged coffee cakes that aren’t available in Canada. Which is why it sat there for eons on my to-make list. Now most of the versions making the rounds are made entirely from scratch, with either a cake or sweet yeasted bread base, but the crazy high butter-sugar content kept me from making it. Mostly out of fear for my thighs.
But the large-batch amalgamation of butter, sugar and flour (exactly the sort of thing that makes me want to reorganize my life so that I can be a professional athlete or mountain climber or someone who needs to pack as many calories into a day as possible in order to keep up with my high calorie output) is a perfectly suitable thing to make when you have 9 people under one roof, including teenagers and ravenous boys who have spent the bulk of their day surfing, running, kayaking and jumping in the waves. Also – there is sufficient competition to keep me from eating the lion’s share of it myself.
Still – it seemed too plain – too straight-up – on its own, like something was missing between the butter-sugar-egg-flour base and (altogether different) butter-sugar-egg-flour topping. I figured it would make the perfect ballast to tart, juicy fruit like plums, which cut nicely through the richness of butter and sugar. (Of which, by the way, I cut the quantities down a bit.)
As I puttered around making it, everyone asked what it was going to be. To tell them it was a coffee cake seemed too meh – and in fact it isn’t really a cake at all, with a yeasted, sweetbreadlike base, but then again it can’t really be labeled bread, as it’s cut into wedges and eaten much more like a cake than any sort of loaf. I suppose it should retain its rightful name – St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake – but with the streamlining and the layer of tart fruit that transformed it into something far more summery, the barefooted sandy-haired kids helping me arrange wedges of plum on the base before it went into the oven, who then ate it warm, straight from the pan, before heading out to fish from the rowboat, it didn’t seem right to be named for a city in Missouri. This cake belongs in Tofino.
I imagine it would go just as well with juicy apricots or sour cherries, and as she stood at the counter eating a wedge, my mom said, “this seems like it needs to have rhubarb in it.”
Tofino Gooey Plum Butter Cake
AuthorJulie
Make the cake dough: In a small bowl, mix milk with 2 tablespoons hot water (this will make the lot lukewarm - easier, I think, than bringing your milk to room temperature); stir in the yeast and let it sit until it foams a bit.
Beat together the butter, sugar and salt, then beat in the egg. Add flour and milk mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until you have a sticky dough, then turn it out onto the countertop (resist the urge to add more flour) and knead for a few minutes, until soft and smooth.
Pat, press, stretch and nudge the dough into a buttered baking dish that is around 9"x13" and at least 2 inches deep. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel, and let it rise while you go to the beach - 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lay the slices of plum in rows over the surface of the dough, which really won't have risen that much. In a small bowl, stir the honey, 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla together with a fork. In a larger bowl beat the butter, sugar and salt until smooth and light, then beat in the egg. Add half the flour, then the honey mixture, then the rest of the flour, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition and stirring just until blended.
Spoon the topping in large dollops over the plums and gently spread overtop with a spatula. Bake for about an hour, until golden; it will still be slightly soft (gooey) in the middle. Cool completely before serving - really, do - plums hold onto their heat and you won't be able to taste it properly until it's cooled.
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cake dough: In a small bowl, mix milk with 2 tablespoons hot water (this will make the lot lukewarm - easier, I think, than bringing your milk to room temperature); stir in the yeast and let it sit until it foams a bit.
Beat together the butter, sugar and salt, then beat in the egg. Add flour and milk mixture alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir until you have a sticky dough, then turn it out onto the countertop (resist the urge to add more flour) and knead for a few minutes, until soft and smooth.
Pat, press, stretch and nudge the dough into a buttered baking dish that is around 9"x13" and at least 2 inches deep. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel, and let it rise while you go to the beach - 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lay the slices of plum in rows over the surface of the dough, which really won't have risen that much. In a small bowl, stir the honey, 2 tablespoons water and the vanilla together with a fork. In a larger bowl beat the butter, sugar and salt until smooth and light, then beat in the egg. Add half the flour, then the honey mixture, then the rest of the flour, scraping down sides of bowl between each addition and stirring just until blended.
Spoon the topping in large dollops over the plums and gently spread overtop with a spatula. Bake for about an hour, until golden; it will still be slightly soft (gooey) in the middle. Cool completely before serving - really, do - plums hold onto their heat and you won't be able to taste it properly until it's cooled.
This looks amazing, although I have a dentist appointment shortly so I may be keeping off the sweet stuff for a little while!
Tofino would be honoured to have inspired this cake.
Yum, yum, yum, I do love a good plum and this is a great way to share them with friends (or not share at all). Thanks for the recipe.
Mmm, I agree with your Mom. Plum AND rhubarb for me.
Oh it sounds so lovely! I’m sure it would make an entirely suitable breakfast, yes?
I think I’ll try this with haskaps. Might just work.
I love Tofino. I love the look of this cake. I love you.
🙂
As a St. Louisan, despite the “many variations” of Gooey Butter Cake that abound in and out of the city, I can attest that this would nonetheless be considered heretical by the locals, despite the vain attempt to pass it off to Italy. 🙂 That said — it appeals to me way more than the authentic butter-sugar laden versions. The last one I made took something like five sticks of butter, yikes.
Hi Julie!
I made this tonight for a dinner party my mom threw here in Ottawa. It was a hit, even though the yeast I used was all but dead, so the bottom cake was more like a shortbread. I also had to cut the cooking time down to 45 minutes – different elevation maybe? But, the second I saw this on the website I knew I just had to wait for the right excuse to make it! Yum yum! With vanilla whipped cream.