Ripe seasonal fruit and a buttery pastry can take many forms: as a tart, a pie, a crumble, shortbread or a cake. But my go-to this time of year is the torte. Not the authentic torte, inspired by the Italian word “torta,” meaning cake, the traditional airy sponge cake filled with richly flavored cream. No, I’m talking about one of the easiest desserts for highlighting the late summer and early fall tree fruits that are now at their peak.

My favorite recipe is a spinoff of the famous Marian Burros Original Plum Torte, which first appeared in the New York Times in 1982, continued to run every September for the next 10 years and is still making headlines. (A recent Food52 article was titled “40 Years Later, This Plum Torte Is Still the Best Ever.”) It was a dessert my Aunt Rose swore by, and

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