Amandine: almonds cake with cherry plums and thym

Mirabelles (or cherry plums) are the fruits of the mirabelle prune tree.

This small yellow rounded-shaped fruit is appreciated for its rich sweet flavour.

They are a specialty of Lorraine whose climate and soil composition is ideal for their cultivation

L'Amande means the "almond" in French,

amandine is a almonds' cream.   Its fine, subtle flavor and distinct texture blend perfectly with the sandpies.
This recipe is special, since is there is no sandpie, in fact is a mix between clafoutis, flan and almonds cream.

Moreover is a gluten free to enjoy the celiac.

For 8 people:

500 – 600 g pitted Mirabelle plums

250 ml milk

250 ml single cream

1 sprig of fresh thym

100g almond flour

25 g cornflour (maizena)

180g caster sugar

3 eggs

Soft butter for a flan dish

Bring to a boil milk, single cream and sprig of fresh thyme and let infuse the thyme a few minutes.

Generously butter a deep flan dish and sprinkle it with a small quantity of caster sugar. Then arrange the Mirabelle plums in the base.

Meanwhile beat the eggs and sugar together until light and creamy. Sift together the almond flour and corn flour and fold them into the egg mix.

Remove the thyme from milk. If you prefer the taste of thyme is stronger you can remove the biggest stalks of thyme and let the small leafs in the cake.

I preferred without thyme so we just have a small taste.

To pour the cream and milk into mix of eggs and flour and to stir until thoroughly combined, then pour over the Mirabelle plums in the flan dish.

Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake emerges cleanly.

When done, remove the cake from the oven .