Persimmon Cake

I LOVE Persimmons and this is the season when this beautiful orange fruit comes to the stores. I prefer the smaller rounded version called Fuyu, which can be eaten when hard and crisp. I prefer to peel the fruit, but it's actually not necessary and there are no seeds inside, so you get to eat the whole thing. Be careful when buying the other heart shaped Japanese variety called Hachiya. This persimmon must only eaten when ripe and soft. I made this mistake once and was rewarded with a horrible sour taste, leaving a chalky coating on the inside of my mouth. I never made that mistake again!

The case of persimmons I purchased at Costco was a great buy, but they were ripening very quickly. I love to eat them like an apple, but when they start to soften, I cut it in half and scoop the juicy sweet flesh out with a spoon.

However, with several ripe fruit sitting on my counter, I remembered that my Aunt in L.A had given me a cake recipe many years ago. Unfortunately, her recipe used shortening, so I found another recipe on the Fuyu Farm recipe site, originally printed in Sunset magazine. I have reduced the amount of sugar as the fruit was already so sweet and also reduced the amount of cloves. The resulting cake was sweet and beautifully moist with a hint of spices. It's a delicious alternative to pumpkin. I hope you try this cake, I'm sure you'll love it!

Persimmon Cake

Ingredients:
3 ripe Fuyu persimmons
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1–1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Grease a Bundt cake tin with non-stick spray.
• Slice open the persimmons and scoop out the flesh into a bowl with a spoon. Mash the flesh with a potato masher or fork until just very soft but still a little lumpy. Mix in the baking soda.

• Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until soft and creamy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Add the persimmon mixture, lemon juice and vanilla.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Next, add the dry ingredients until just blended and finally stir in the raisins and walnuts.

• Pour into prepared Bundt pan and smooth down the surface of the batter.

• Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack and then transfer to serving platter when cool.