Dan Lepard's wholewheat plum tart with sherry cream recipe

To round off this mini series on using traditionally stone-milled flour from windmills and watermills in baking, I'll look at cakes and sweet things. Stone-milled wholewheat flour adds weightiness to a cake's crumb, so before you use it, first think about the effect it will have. In gingerbread, chocolate or spice cake, for example, this slight heaviness can be perfect. In this spiced plum tart, I've used a base of dark wholemeal cake mixture that doesn't have to rise much, making it perfect for absorbing the juices from the plums. To find real stoneground wholemeal flour, you don't have to look far, because most mills stock it. Two excellent ones are Y Felin watermill at St Dogmaels in Wales, and Golspie Mill in Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands. 75g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tin 75g soft dark brown sugar 1 tbsp runny honey 1 egg ¾ tsp baking powder 1 tsp ground cinnamon 200g wholemeal stoneground flour 4 or 5 ripe plums Warmed and sieved plum jam 50ml double cream Brown sugar, to taste 2-3 tbsp sherry Cream the butter and sugar until light and smooth, then beat in the honey and egg. Stir in the baking powder, cinnamon and flour until smooth. Brush melted butter all over the insides of an 18cm round tart tin with a removable base, or similar. Spread the mixture evenly over the base of the tin. Stone the plums, cut them into quarters and, starting from the edge of the mixture in the tin, poke them in quite tightly in rings, so the tips point upwards. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 and bake the tart for about 30 minutes, until golden. When done, remove from the oven and leave until warm, then brush with a little plum jam. To serve, lightly whip the cream with a little brown sugar to taste. Just as it starts to thicken, add two to three tablespoons of sherry and continue whipping until the cream can just hold its shape when spooned. Serve wedges of warm tart with the cream. danlepard.com/guardian