A persimmon tree holds its fruit long after the last leaf falls, so the bare branches end up hung with orange lanterns well into November — the garden’s final harvest in much of Japan, Korea, China, Italy, Spain and California. Those late fruits, firm-fleshed and honeyed, caramelise into glossy amber discs under a cardamom-scented walnut sponge. Bake it on a cold afternoon and the kitchen smells of toasted sugar and spice for hours.
3 firm Fuyu-type persimmons, about 1 lb (450 g) total
11 tbsp (160 g) unsalted butter — 3 tbsp (45 g) for the caramel, 8 tbsp (115 g) for the cake
1/3 cup packed (70 g) light brown sugar
1 cup (100 g) walnuts — half left in halves, half roughly chopped
1 1/4 cups (160 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
2/3 cup (130 g) caster (superfine) sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (120 ml) plain whole-milk yoghurt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder plus 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp ground cardamom (seeds from about 10 pods, crushed) and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
The Recipe
Heat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C conventional / 160 °C fan). Line the base of a 9 in (23 cm) round cake tin with parchment and butter the sides — the caramel will weld anything it touches, and parchment is the difference between a clean turn-out and a cake left in pieces. Do not use a loose-bottomed tin: the caramel leaks straight through.
Toast the walnuts on a tray for 7–8 minutes, until they smell nutty and the skins look dry and slightly cracked. Toasting drives off the raw, bitter note in the skins and keeps them crisp inside a wet batter. Cool them before use, or they will melt the butter later.
Peel the persimmons with a vegetable peeler, cut out the leathery calyx, and slice crosswise into rounds a scant 1/4 in (5–6 mm) thick. Fuyu-type fruit should feel like a ripe tomato — yielding but not collapsing. If your fruit is the pointed Hachiya type, it must be jelly-soft all the way through or it will dry your mouth like strong tea; see the chef tip.
Melt the 3 tbsp (45 g) butter with the brown sugar and a pinch of the salt in a small pan over medium heat, stirring until it stops looking grainy and turns glossy and bubbling, about 2 minutes. Pour it straight into the lined tin and tilt to coat the base. Work fast — once it cools it sets into a sheet and the fruit will not bed into it.
Lay the persimmon rounds over the caramel in overlapping circles, pressing lightly so no air pockets remain, and tuck the walnut halves into the gaps, rounded side down. Whatever faces the tin becomes the top of the cake, so arrange with that in mind. Press firmly: trapped air leaves pale, uncaramelised patches.
Whisk the remaining 8 tbsp (115 g) butter, melted and cooled to just warm, with the caster sugar, eggs, yoghurt and orange zest until smooth and pale, about 1 minute. The butter must not be hot or it will scramble the eggs into threads. Sift over the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate, cardamom, cinnamon and remaining salt, add the chopped walnuts, and fold with a spatula only until the last streak of flour disappears — overmixing develops gluten and turns a tender crumb rubbery.
Spoon the batter over the fruit in dollops rather than pouring it in one stream, then level gently with the back of the spoon. Pouring shifts the carefully laid slices; dolloping leaves them in place. Bake 40–45 minutes, until the top is deep gold, springs back under a fingertip, and a skewer in the centre comes out with no wet batter. The edges will have pulled a millimetre away from the tin.
Rest the cake in the tin for exactly 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge, invert onto a plate and lift the tin away. Do not skip the timing: inverted immediately, the caramel is still liquid and runs off the sides; left for 30 minutes it sets like glue and tears the fruit away. Scrape any caramel left in the tin back over the top while warm.
