Autumn cake

The land to the rear of the Netherton workshops is bounded by a hedge - a barrier of hawthorn, hazel and the odd stray bramble.
It provides food and accommodation for lots of wildlife and, if we can get to them first, some tasty treats for us too.  It has to be said, we have to be very quick to beat the squirrels to the hazel nuts, but the brambles are so entwined within the tangle of branches that as long as you can brave the spiders' webs, then you stand a good chance of a reasonable harvest.
To the front of the workshops there are 2 seemingly ancient bullace trees, short, windswept, overlooked and always yielding an abundance of deep purple gems.  
And just across the road, on the grass verge, apparently without an owner and completely ignored by everyone but me, is a splendid plum tree.  No-one has yet come up with a definitive identification of the species, but suffice to say, the crop is heavy and the fruit delicious.
This year, part of the plum harvest was steeped in vodka and sugar, to give us a beautifully maroon liqueur to sip with our mince pies and a residue of a bowl full of the booziest fruit you can imagine.

Gather, by Gill Meller, published last September only came into my possession this year, but is already a cherished and well referenced read.  The writing is superlative and the recipes inviting.
One that has drawn my eye and open the sluice gates of my saliva glands is his cobnut, prune and chocolate cake and the appearance of the hazelnuts in the hedge prompted me to stop reading and start baking.
It is one of the most beautiful things I have ever, ever eaten.

And so on a bitingly cold, grey November Sunday, I thought I'd make another one.
Except I didn't have any chocolate, prunes or cream, three vital ingredients.

Now as some of you may now, I have not been well recently and a trip to the shops was out of the question.  The only answer, when baking was all I really wanted to do, was to improvise and take my inspiration from what I had originally intended to make.
And use some of those boozy plums.

60g hazelnuts
60g rye flour
1 tsp baking powder
120g soft butter
120g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
Boozy plums, or any other fruit of choice; try prunes soaked in brandy, dried apricots steeped in Amaretto or Cointreau. Alternatively, leave the fruit out altogether, you will still have a nice cake.

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC
Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, until just starting to take on a little colour.
DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THEM FOR A SECOND, THEY CAN BURN IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.  
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
The next step is to grind the hazelnuts, you can do this with a pestle and mortar, in a clean spice/coffee grinder or in a food processor.
I used the food processor and added the flour, to absorb some of the oil given off when grinding the nuts.
Then add all the other ingredients, except the fruit and mix until light and smooth.
Grease or line a 1lb loaf tin 

Carefully spread half of the cake mix evenly in the loaf tin and add the fruit in a layer across the top.

Add the rest of the cake mix and spread evenly over the fruit.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Carefully turn out on to a cooling rack.
Serve in thick slices - it's especially nice when still warm and we added generous dollops of coconut yogurt on the side.  Have to admit to a minor addiction to Lidl's coconut yogurt although, of course, other brands are available and no, they didn't pay me to say this.

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