Yes. This is exactly as delicious as it looks, and as elegant, too.
To be very honest, it is one of the best plum desserts that I’ve baked this season, and I’ve baked (and happily eaten) my share.
The Austrians call this plum cake Zwetschgenkuchen. Traditionally, the cake has a yeasted batter but this streamlined version uses baking powder. The whole thing comes together quickly. You prepare the batter and spread it in a thin layer on the bottom of a springform pan. You arrange the sliced plums in concentric circles on top of the batter. You sprinkle on a little sugar, and you bake. As the cake bakes, the batter rises to embrace the plums and your cake looks like a work of art.
My neighbor came into my kitchen just after I had finished this cake and remarked that it looked like something one would find offered in a fine bakery. And it does. The generous slices of dark red plums look like jewels studding the light golden brown vanilla-flavored cake layer.
Heaven.
This is the peak of the plum season, so you have access to choice fruit at the moment. The Santa Rosa plums created by Luther Burbank are considered the best of the plums, but you have all sorts of tasty choices.
Here is the recipe for this plum cake.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 C. (130 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C. (107 grams) white sugar plus 2 T.
- 3/4 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. kosher salt
- 8 T. (1 stick) salted butter (cut into 8 pieces, room temperature)
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 pounds ripe but firm medium plums (halved and pitted and cut into 3/4 inch wedges )
- Powdered sugar to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Set your baking rack on the middle shelf in the oven. Prepare a springform pan for your cake by lightly spraying it with an oil spray and then dusting the pan with flour (tapping off the excess).
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, 1/2 C. sugar, baking powder, salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix briefly. Keep your mixer running and add the butter one piece at a time. Continue to mix the ingredients until the flour takes on the consistency of moist sand. This will take 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk to the flour. Add the vanilla. Beat this mixture at medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy. This will take about 1 minute. You can scrape down the sides of the bowl as you are doing this to be sure that you are incorporating all the ingredients.
- Spread the batter across the bottom of your prepared springform pan using an offset spatula. Then, arrange the sliced plums in concentric circles across the top of the batter. The cut sides of the plums should face up. Sprinkle the remaining 2 T. sugar on top of the cake and put the cake into the oven to bake. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The original recipe called for baking the cake about 1 to 1 1/4 hours but my cake was perfectly done after one hour. Remove the baked cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, after which you can remove the sides of the springform pan.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
This recipe is adapted from one that appears on the Milk Street site. Here is the link: Milk Street’s Plum Cake.
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