What comes to mind when you hear the word plum? What’s it shape? What’s the colour? When I think of plums, I think of blue-skinned fruits with greenish-yellow flesh and an elliptical, oval shape. They are very firm and juicy and often they can be quite tart when you buy them at a store.
In German they are called Pflaumen or Zwetschgen. While Zwetschgen is the correct term for this kind of plum, many Northern Germans like me just call them Pflaumen (Singular: Pflaume). In English, you might know them as European or Italian plums. (Damson, Empress or Italian prune plums.) I love these fruits. They are harvested in late July and early August. This is when we’re in the middle of summer break here in Germany. Everybody is enjoying the hot weather. Or like me they suffer through the August heat wave. When plums enter the scene we all know that summer is not gonna last much longer. Even though it may be 30°C we all know that next month there’s gonna be autumn. We have to say goodbye to fresh berries and say hello to apples, pears, and pumpkin.
But first plums. It’s still summer after all. Plum cake is quite popular although I personally have a love-hate relationship with the way it’s prepared here in Germany. I love raw European plums and I definitely prefer them over the watery round kind that is usually imported from abroad. But when our local plums are baked they get this sour note with a strong bitter or even metallic aftertaste. It’s like blackstrap molasses.
German plum cakes have a fruit to cake ratio that is something like two parts fruit to one part cake. Also, they are huge! They are prepared on baking sheets and you can use one cake recipe to feed a whole school class. Recipes for plum cakes are quite straightforward and easy to make. There’s basically two parts: a thick layer of enriched yeast dough and a very crowded layer of quartered plums. If you feel fancy you can put some streusel on top.
So if you came here to find the recipe for perfect German plum cake, I am genuinely sorry! Personally I prefer to prepare plum cakes differently. Usually I go either for a light and perfectly fluffy plum cake with crumbs or lots of cake crumb like in this plum and fig cake. But this time I wanted to try something different. I made a cake based on something that you could call lazy short crust. You can throw it together quickly and don’t even have to refrigerate it. Also, this plum cake is baked in a regular brownie pan. It makes 16 small pieces.
For a really great taste, I stewed the plums with ¼ cup of zwetschgenwasser and puréed them with a couple of medjol dates. The purée came out pretty thin, so I thickened it with corn starch.
Zwetschgenwasser is a plum brandy that you might know as slivovitz. I bought a bottle two years ago when we were on vacation in Bavaria. The poor little thing has been sitting in my cupboard all this time waiting for a special occasion. Now what occasion is better than a cake? If you are not into fruit brandies, don’t worry. You can use apple juice or water instead.
No matter what the cake base, I always need crumbs on my plum cakes. I divided the crumb dough and added some black cocoa to one half. This complements the plums so well and I am sure the same effect will be achieved, if you use Dutched cocoa powder.
Serve this lovely streusel plum cake with (coconut) whipped cream or a serving of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!
If you have questions or made this recipe please leave a comment below. This is very helpful to other readers. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @seitanismymotor and #seitanismymotor. I love seeing your pictures and comments!
Streusel Plum Cake
This is not your usual German plum cake. This streusel cake is super easy to make and comes with extra special cocoa crumbs and lots of juicy plums.
For the stewed plums
- 500 g halved European plums
- 60 ml plum brandy (¼ cup) (apple juice or water makes a great substitute)
- 50 g sugar
- 5 medjool dates ((or sugar to taste))
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp cold water
For the short crust
- 200 g all-purpose flour (1 ⅔ cups)
- 80 ml vegetable oil (⅓ cup)
- 100 g sugar (½ cup)
- ⅛ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
For the crumbs
- 200 g all-purpose flour (1 ⅔ cups)
- 80 ml vegetable oil (⅓ cup)
- 50 g sugar (¼ cup)
- 1 tsp black cocoa powder
To make the stewed plums add the halved and pitted plums to a pot.
Preheat oven to 200°C and line a square pan (20 x 20 cm) with parchment paper.
Add brandy and sugar.
Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes until the plums have fallen apart.
Transfer to a blender and add dates.
Purée until smooth.
Place in the pan again and bring to a boil.
Mix corn starch with cold water and pour into plum mixture.
Cook for one minute or until thickened slightly.
To make the short crust, combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead dough until smooth.
Press into the prepared pan.
I recommend to also press the dough into a sides a bit, so that the quite liquid plum purée will stay in place.
Pour the plum purée into the pan.
Prepare the crumbs by combining all ingredients except for cocoa powder.
Form into crumbs and sprinkle half over the plums.
Add cocoa powder to remaining crumble dough, knead again and sprinkle over cake once the cocoa is incorporated.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the crumbs are golden brown.
Let cool completely before slicing and removing from the pan.
3 comments
Fantastic layers of colour and flavour – I think that lots of fruit in a cake is delicious and plums especially.
This looks lovely. I love plums when they are in season here, we normally get a few different varieties to try. I don’t bake with them very often though, normally I am just munching on them straight.
Yes, I agree! I also rarely bake with them! Honestly, I eat so much fruit during summer. I often think why bother baking anything. But since I have a baking blog:)
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