A skillet cake with jammy plums, buttery caramel, and a cornbread base that works just as well from scratch as it does from a box.

Hi folks. I've got a problem that perhaps some of you can empathize with:

Too many plums.

I know, I know. But server, my steak is too juicy and my lobster is just too buttery!

It's a high class problem to have, but there are only so many of Marion Burros' Original Plum Torte one can make. Luckily, that recipe forms a perfect blueprint for any number of excellent spin-offs using the same basic formula: Some form of batter topped with Italian prune plums and baked until the cake is set and the plums are jammy.

I've made this recipe using any number of batter from the excellent original recipe, to my brown butter cornbread, to a box of Jiffy mix. Honestly, use any type of mildly sweet batter designed to be cooked in an 8-inch square pan or a 9- or 10-inch round pan, and you are very unlikely to fail.

You don't need to stick to prune plums either! They are excellent because their high pectin content and slightly mealy flesh makes them turn nice and jammy as they bake, but any stone fruit will work, even (or maybe especially) if it's not perfectly ripe.

This time, I decided to flip the cake on its head—literally. Instead of topping a batter-filled pan with prune plums, I instead started by caramelizing some sugar and butter in the bottom of a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Once the sugar became a nice golden brown, I added a splash of lemon juice and water and simmered it down into a smooth, thick caramel. I then added the plums, cut-side-down with enough of them to cover the bottom of the skillet.

Finally, I topped the whole thing with a batch of mildly sweet cornbread (Northern style, don't @ me) and baked it until it was fully set. The one mildly nerve-wracking moment comes at the end, when you have to flip the whole thing out of the skillet. I do it by letting the cake cool a little bit and giving it a little shake. Once it slides back and forth a little bit, you know you're golden (or more accurately, deeply caramelized). I flip it out by placing a cutting board or cake plate on top of the skillet, then inverting them both together, giving the skillet a few taps to make sure the cake and all the plums come out.

It's excellent warm, or at room temp. With ice cream or whipped cream or nothing at all.

The new official JKLA World HQ Taste Tester-in-Residence, Ruby, agrees:

By the way, if you arrived here after picking up plums from us at the plum stand, welcome to the greatest community of food nerds on the internet. If you like what you see, you can join for weekly videos, recipes, writing, and other content delivered straight to your inbox. Check out our subscription page for information on the various tiers (including free)!

Recipe: Easy Caramelized Plum Cornbread Cake

Every recipe I publish here is personally tested, tasted, and approved.

What I love about this recipe:

It's virtually foolproof and works with a variety of fruits and cornbread recipes.

One skillet, one bowl, and great payoff.

Yield: 8 servingsActive Time: 15 minutesTotal Time: About 1 hour 45 minutes, including coolingNotes: Italian prune plums are ideal here, but small plums or apricots work well too. Use any cornbread batter recipe intended for an 8-inch square pan.

Ingredients

For the caramelized plums:

4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 55g) unsalted butter

4 tablespoons (about 50g) sugar

1 tablespoon (15ml) juice from 1 lemon

2 tablespoons (30ml) water, plus more as needed

Enough small Italian prune plums, halved and pitted, to cover the bottom of your skillet (generally 6 to 10)

For the cornbread:

1 batch cornbread batter sized for an 8-inch square pan, such as Jiffy, Bob’s Red Mill, or my brown butter cornbread.

To serve:

Whipped cream or ice cream

Method

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Combine butter and sugar in a 10-inch cast iron, carbon steel, or oven-safe nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring and swirling occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sugar begins to caramelize and turn golden brown.

Add the lemon juice and water all at once (the sugar will sputter aggressively) and immediately start swirling the pan and stirring the mixture over heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. You may need to add more water if it is evaporating too aggressively. Add it a tablespoon at a time until the sugar melts smoothly.

Continue cooking the caramel until a spatula scraped across the bottom of the pan leaves a trail that slowly closes. Remove the skillet from heat. Arrange the plum halves snugly in the caramel, cut-sides-down.

Prepare your cornbread batter according to its recipe or package directions. Butter the sides of the skillet, then pour the batter evenly over the plums and gently spread it to the edges using a spatula. Some of the caramel is likely to ride up the edges or swirl into the middle. This is OK.

Transfer skillet to oven and bake until the cornbread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes (start checking after 45 minutes).

Remove skillet from oven. Give it a gentle shake to make sure the cake has released from the sides and bottom, then let cool in the skillet for at least 10 minutes.

Place a large cake platter or cutting board upside down over the skillet. Holding the platter and skillet firmly together, invert them in one confident motion. Carefully lift off the skillet. If any plums stuck to the bottom of the skillet, carefully lift them out and replace them on the cake.

Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.