This may not be the quickest cake to make, but as they say "something worth having is something worth waiting for"... And the smell of this cake baking is fantastic.
Ingredients:
500g plain flour40g fresh yeast or 20g instant yeastabout 1/4l milk in room temperature2 egg yolks100-150g caster sugarsalt100g butter, meltedcandied lemon peel or peel of one lemon finely choppedvanilla extract700g halved plums with the stones removed or other fruit of choice, i.e. sliced rhubarb, wedges of cored apples, halved strawberries, wedges of peaches, etc
For the crumble
50g butter80g flour50g caster sugarA few drops of vanilla extract or a tsp of vanilla sugar
grind cinnamonicing sugar to decorate
1. Put flour in a non-metallic bowl and warm up in the microwave for 20sec (this will help the yeast mix to develop quicker) 2. In a separate bowl mix the yeast with 1tbsp of sugar and 100g flour. Add to it so much of the milk, so the mix has a 'double cream' consistency (a bit thicker than custard). Cover the bowl with some oiled cling film and put aside in warm place to develop and raise.
Cooking Monster's Tip: If using fresh yeast make sure you mix it well with the sugar first, breaking the yeast well, before adding the flour and milk to it. For the raising, I find the best place inside my top grill/oven which is above the  main oven warming up at gas mark 6 or equivalent. If you don't have this facility, you can use an airing cupboard, or put it by t...