http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/dining/marian-burros-plum-torte-recipe.html 2016-09-13 00:09:40 The Story Behind Our Most Requested Recipe Ever The plum torte didn’t seem to have the makings of a hit when it was published in 1983. Thirty-three years later, it’s still beloved. === When Marian Burros, a longtime food reporter for The New York Times, It certainly appeared without fanfare, nestled in the bottom left-hand corner of the page, accompanying a brief report about the arrival of the Italian plum season. With just eight ingredients and five short steps, it didn’t seem to have the makings of a hit. Yet after the fact, the newspaper received so many requests for the recipe that the editors decided to reprint it the following year, and the next, and each subsequent year until they decided it was time to put an end to the madness. In 1989, they ran an updated version (three-quarters of a cup of sugar, rather than a full cup) with a broken-line border, encouraging readers to cut it out, laminate it and save it. Ms. Burros wrote: “This could really be the last time we print the recipe. Really!” Numerous letters arrived in protest. “The appearance of the recipe, like the torte itself, is bittersweet,” a reader wrote. “Summer is leaving, fall is coming. That’s what your annual recipe is all about. Don’t be grumpy about it.” “Perhaps, it has become the adult version of September’s shiny new notebook for school,” another wrote. Two readers sent in poems. The torte, which is really more of a cake, came from Lois Levine, a childhood friend of Ms. Burros, who suggested it for a self-published cookbook they wrote together in 1960 called “ The recipe wasn’t just popular; it was endlessly adaptable. In 1991, a As newspaper clippings and recipe files have ceded ground to web pages and Pinterest boards, the torte has found a new set of admirers online. A Ms. Burros, who is now retired, is still making the torte. In the summer, she prefers to use blueberries and peaches, and she doesn’t like it with the oversize plums available midsummer. She holds out for the smaller blue-black Italian plums that arrive in early autumn. “I love that something so simple took off,” Ms. Burros said when asked about the recipe’s enduring popularity. “Of course, I think that’s why it did.” When Amanda Hesser was collecting recipe suggestions from readers for “ “That I was really proud of,” Ms. Burros said. What are your memories of The Times’ plum torte recipe? Share them in the comments. Recipes: