The Foolproof Fruit Dessert Recipe You Should Know: Marian Burros' Plum Torte | Kenji's Cooking Show 

I just noticed that Kenji's habit of grabbing pan handles with a kitchen towel is so strong, that he even does it with pans that he absolutely knows to be cold.

So glad to hear you mention that artificial vanilla works fine for baked goods,I've been going that route since ATK did a piece on it years ago where their taste testers were unable to discern it was artificial in baked goods

Kenji you are such a dad! Love the little girl pedicure ha ha! Thank you for this simple recipe and clarifying that using fake vanilla extract is perfectly fine for most baked goods. Thanks!

I'm sure you get this non-stop, but your dogs are a gift and a treasure. I love seeing Shabu and Hamon! They are kinda opposite personalities (by what we see in vids), but both are always ready for your cooking haha!

I learned this kind of cake is also known as a Buckle cake. I successfully use a 7 inch springform pan to make this. A little almond extract (1/4 - 1/2 tsp) went really well with the plums. I've also made this cake with strawberries, sliced in half, with vanilla extract. Thanks for sharing this, Kenji.

Seriously, I have a bag of plums that I was wondering what to do with! Thank you Kenji, for coming to the rescue 🙏🙌❤

Your drupe desserts remain on point. The clafoutis that you showed last year became an instant favorite. Can't wait to give this a try!

Love hearing them pups just tip taping around.

My fav tip for buttering a pan: save the butter wrapper you pulled off the stick of butter. It has enough butter on it to butter a pan

Kenjis nihilistic baking show where all order is an illusion, recipes are but leaves tossed into an uncaring wind, and nothing matters. this is the kind of existential dessert preparation i come here for day in and day out.

This is my favorite dessert i make it every single year! I even had back surgery in 2016 and crawled to the kitchen to make this dessert.

Your toes looking fresh bro👌👌💯💯💯

My mom’s been making this for fifty years. Always a crowd pleaser. You can also make it a little thinner and it gets a little chewier since the juices caramelize on the bottom. Yummy.

I make this kind of cake every year with peaches; I usually do it upside down style, fruit on the bottom with brown sugar, then invert it. Absolutely gorgeous and showstoppingly tasty.

Its rare to see someone who is so talented, yet so cool, and polite. Thank you for the pleasent food :)

I forgot how much I love your style of videos completely raw and natural

Thanks for this Kenji, my kids are going to love this!

Just a note on using microwaves at low power: Most microwaves actually don't turn down the power of the magnetron when you set a lower power level (though i think there are fancy ones that do). Most microwaves just turn the magnetron on/off at the requested duty cycle. Unfortunately the period of this modulation is fairly long, on the order of 10-30 seconds. So basically selecting a low power level for a 15 second cook duration is equivalent to just having a 5-10 second cook duration at full power. The power level selection only really works for long cook times, as the idea is apply heat, then wait for that heat to spread, repeat.

That transition from evening voice to morning voice at 11:04 was unexpected but reassuring

Thanks! Inspired me to make this with some pears and blueberries I had. Used vanilla, a bit of coconut flavor, and a touch of almond extract. It was so good.

definitely making this!! looks so yum

This looks so good- gonna have to try this out!

Didn’t think I’d be watching a plum recipe for my Friday night but I’m ok with it

Kenji: Let it sit overnight so you can cut into it Me, looking up with a mouth full of cake burning my tongue: Let it what?

I was literally just looking for a dessert recipe for these Italian plums i got at market. Thanks.

I have been making this since the 80's when it was 1st printed it is brilliant!It's so great you are sharing this with more people. I top it with raw sugar and lemon zest

We made this torte this past weekend with raspberries instead of plums and it worked perfectly! It was so easy and came together so quickly; this will be a go-to dessert any time I need something quick for company.

I made this a couple weeks ago when he posted it in Instagram. Fabulous!

Your point about imitation/artificial vanilla. The majority of ingredients attribute their taste and smell to a huge variety of compounds, this is the certainly the case for natural vanilla pods. But the primary component, Vanillin, kinda overpowers the rest and is considerably less volatile. Artificial extract is just Vanillin dissolved in ethanol. I used kilos of crystalline, food-grade vanillin in the lab as a starting material and TLC stain, always a pleasure to work with.

have made this a couple of times. Really love it.

Great video Kenji, thank you!

From my engineering days - nothing is foolproof. Fools are ingenious.

That looks so good!

I’ve made this cake with so many fruits over the years. Such a great recipe.

Your dogs are one of the best parts of your videos.

Finally a professional cook that publicly says it is okay to use imitation vanilla extract.

😍 that looks so yummy!!

Just made this last week; MUCH easier and faster to cream butter FIRST, then (slowly) add sugar. If your butter is soft enough a spoon or spatula will do just fine-no need to clean greasy beaters

When I saw you cut the circle into rectangles I smiled ear to ear thinking about the comment section. I love it. I’m gonna make this gluten free and with peaches here in Colorado.

Anyone else cheer when his cake came out clean?

Made this last night and it was so easy and fire. I used strawberries and replaced some of the flour with almond flour which gave it a nice nutty crust

You're wearing the triangles shirt, and I was thinking, ok I know just what he's going to do... but then you cut it into squares! 😫 Sick twist in the plot at the end. Anyway I make this cake every summer without fail. It's an all time classic. Cheers!

Would love to see more baking videos from Kenji

I love how every time kenji feeds jamon a treat he then chuckles, probably because of the face jamon makes. As a sharpei x owner I can totally relate 😂

I wanna hear the grilled cheese convo. Especially the Mayo vs butter part. As a person that never has spreadable butter, Mayo is amazing.

love the artistic cropping , very cinematic

I just start chuckling when I hear the tappity-tapping of the puppy toes.

Thank you for the inspiration tonight. I now have a fig torte in the over!

I have made this with many different fruits and it is fantastic and foolproof. Serve with cardamom scented creme anglaise. Divine. And easy to take to a dinner or brunchl.

I love how in every video that dog shows up right when Kenji is almost done.

I love the rainbow toenails!

Kenji I just made this with some terrible tasteless hard grocery store plums, and it came out amazing!! So flavorful! And easy!! next time I would try some lemon zest in the batter.

Just took this out of the oven, and it smells delicious oh my god. We used peaches (and vastly overestimated how many we needed). This is breakfast tomorrow for sure! I'll see you all in ...

I don't even eat desserts/sweets but I'm not going to miss a Kenji video

Kenji may have missed the piece of butter that fell to the left of the counter but Jamón didn’t. Good boy.

I made this by accident when i was just trying to make something sweet and warm after work but with apple, really just seems like "put all the baking stuff in what seems like reasonable amounts" and it works out

Wonderful

absolutely fantastic! I loved every minute of it! Your cooking technique is great! You remind me of my friend who is a professional chef. I learned the plum cake from my Aunt before she passed.😁🥰

Thanks for this video.

This looks like something I’d actually bake! Will have to give it a try.

Had a bunch of nectarines a few weeks ago. Made some hand pies and they were just OK and a *ton* of work. Gonna use this recipe next time and maybe vac and freeze one or two.

Oh Kenji, We may be both adults who wish we had stuck with our piano lessons when we were children. I am a musician in many other ways, but piano is the best foundation! So, good for you!

I tried to order the Italian plums but the store kept sending figs 😭😭 I need to actually get my hands on them next year - this looks so good. Thanks kenji!!

New to your videos, so many Chef Johnisms!

Kenji, I was wondering if you may be able to make a video on baking with a toaster oven and tricks and tips on it too?

Thanks, Kenji, yet again for making awesome videos that inspire us! wonder if you could do this with kumquats... with... a tiny bit of rosemary? what herb would go with a mild citrus?

I learnt like 3 things from this video besides the recipe, and I respect the cast iron pan!

I love how your dogs always pop in near the end like "whatchu cookin there bud?"

Love the painted toenails!

I just made this. I don't have a hand mixer, or a whisk. I mixed everything with a fork. Lazily. My plums weren't fully ripe. I used a too-small oven dish and some spilled over the sides and burned. The final result however? Delicious, wow. Bulletproof recipe.

If you cut your butter into a bunch of little cubes (like sugar cube size) and spread the cubes out on a plate, it'll come to room temperature very quickly. Assuming your kitchen is somewhat warm, cut the butter before you even get the other ingredients out. By the time you have everything else set up and measured, your butter will probably be soft.

Those French tips 🔥

i’ve never heard of using a cake tester to test meat temps that’s so interesting

I put vanilla extract in pretty much every dessert I make whether the recipe specifies it or not

aaaa delightful :)

Esta es una receta infalible 👌👌es la raja

It's really interesting coming back to this video after hearing you talk about the same butter-microwave conversation in your latest video (the cheeseburger fatty melt one). I guess it's something that's really stuck with you over the years!

breakfast of champions 🤤🤤

Damn I like Kenji so much

Kenji! Great video! What did you mean your butter turns to cheese if left out on the counter, around 2:40? Thank you!

Love the toenails

Iirc microwave was invented by Dr. Percy Something. I love how you include these small talks you have with your friends

What? In your house it's possible to bake a cake and leave it for tomorrow??? If I do that my furniture starts to shake. Have to eat it right away :)

Hey Kenji, i have a thick plum puree i made from wild plums earlier this season -- if i did a thick layer of that jammy puree instead could i achieve similar results? Thanks for the video man!

Wonder if it’s because I live in a drier climate but I leave my butter out in a covered dish for 5-10 days at a time and it never turns rancid or cheesy. Incredibly convenient. If it did turn bad then I’d probably not use butter anywhere near as much.

Are you using the oven convection fan setting with the time and temperature? Thanks 🙏🏽

So I just used your recipe. It looks amazing. The only difference I do I put a glaze on top.

Would canned apricots work in this recipe? Can't seem to find fresh at the moment. Thanks

Could I do this with mango?

Vanilla milk sounds like it would be a short video -- and I would love to see it!

I have a persimmon tree in my back yard... gonna have to try this with them.

im gonna make this!!!!!! ahhhhh

But microwave power setting in commercial application is just what percent of the time the emitter is on, so if you do short bursts the power setting doesn't matter.

When he grabbed the skillet bare handed I almost freaked out. Then I remembered that 5 seconds for me was like 12 hours for him

Oh man I’m gonna make this with blueberries

Hi Kenji, how would fully melting the butter affect the recipe? Would it still work our of curiosity?

A great, evergreen recipe. But I'm lazy, and brown the the butter (aka beurre noisette) instead of whipping it with the sugar. Not quite as much lift in the crumb and a slightly chewier result.

Italian plum trees seem to be all over Seattle for some reason.

Is this still possible with a hand mixer or blender (smoothie blender)?

pogging at the v60 cameo