Plum Cake With Lime And Rose

Preheat oven to 350u0b0F. Grease and flour an 8x8 square pan.
Using a stand mixer, beat the room temperature butter until soft and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition for another minute. So, that's 8 minutes total so far. Add the oil, lime zest, and rose water and beat until satiny and creamy.
You're supposed to first whisk together the dry ingredients, but I cheat. Here's how: Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl. Don't mix it into the wet ingredients yet. Use a spoon to gently mix together just the dry ingredients so that there are no big lumps of baking powder in one spot and a pile of salt in another. Then turn the mixer back on until the dry ingredients are just incorporated with the wet.
Slice the plums in half. I actually sliced on either side of the pit so you don't have to twist the halves to get the pit out. And, as a special bonus, you get a leftover slivers of plum to snack on while baking.
Use a spatula to help pour the batter into the pan. Use the spatula to spread and even out the batter. Arrange the plums, flesh side up in a 4X4 matrix. Gently push them down into the batter.
Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes until the cake puffs up and turns golden. When you stick a toothpick in, it's OK for a few crumbs to cling, as long as the batter is not still liquidy.
Let cool for at least 15 minutes and then run a knife around the edges to help remove the cake from the pan.