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Here is a recipe for German Plum Cake, simple and light at the same time! This German Plum Cake is very healthy because it is made with a lightly sweetened yeast dough and garnished only with plums, a little brown sugar and cinnamon. I used a lot of plums and they make this cake super moist.
A German traditionnal recipe for plum cake
This plum cake baked directly on a baking sheet is a typical German recipe! In autumn, you can find this cake in every bakery.
A sign that this recipe is a must try: according to my German boyfriend, this German Plum Cake recipe is “better than at the bakery“!
A plum cake made with yeast dough
The base of this cake is a sweet yeast dough made with flour, milk, dry yeast, sugar, butter and an egg. The amount of sugar and butter is much less than for a classic cake: 120 g (1/2 cup) of each for 500 g of flour, which is three times less than for a pound cake.
Once the ingredients are mixed and kneaded, the yeast dough needs to rest for 2 to 12 hours. You can prepare the dough the day before and let it rest overnight.
Then, the rest of the recipe is quite simple, just roll out the dough, place it on a baking sheet and add the plums on top.
Arrange the plums on the dough
This is definitely the most tedious part of the recipe, but I assure you, it is worth it! The more plums there are, the more water they will give off during baking and the cake will be all the more moist.
To do this, I arrange the plums in rows, close together. I place the heart of the plum upwards as in the photos below.
It’s not mandatory, but I like to sprinkle the fruit with brown sugar afterwards so that it caramelizes slightly. I also add cinnamon for flavor.
This recipe also works well with nectarines, apricots, cherries or apples in winter. You can also add some crumble on top.
Baking the plum cake
Finally, we put the cake in the oven for 30-35 min at 200 °C (390 °F). I advise you to put your oven in conventional heat to allow to start to rise slowly and to be so homogeneous. Lower the temperature to 175°C (350 °F) if your oven is in fan mode.
It is important to let the cake rest a little before serving. The juice of the plums will be absorbed by the dough and make it moist.
You will see, as in the photo below, that the plums are still quite yellow when they come out of the oven and turn a beautiful purple color after a few minutes.
More plum recipes
Plum Cake Recipe
For 12 servings, you need the following ingredients
Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g flour
- 230 ml of milk
- 7 g of dry yeast
- 120 g sugar
- 120 g butter, soft
- 1 egg
- Vanilla extract
For the filling
- 2 kg of plums
- 45 g of cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Preparation
Start by heating the milk. The temperature should be slightly warm, below 35°C to avoid killing the yeast.
Pour the milk into a small bowl, add the dry yeast, a spoonful of sugar and flour taken from the total amount. Mix and let stand for 15 minutes to activate the yeast.
In a large bowl, pour the flour and sugar. Add the milk and yeast mixture and mix with a kitchen machine. Add the butter and then the egg. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Let the dough rise between 2 and 12 hours at room temperature in a relatively warm place.
Then wash the plums, remove the pit and cut them into 4.
After minimum two hours of resting, the dough should have doubled in volume. Remove the air by flattening the dough and knead it for 2 minutes. Roll out the dough into a rectangle the size of your baking sheet.
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and butter the edges well so they don’t stick. Place the dough on the bottom of the baking sheet and arrange the plums on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Bake in the oven (conventional heat) for 30-35 min at 200 °C. Let the cake stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Note
Serve this cake simply with a little cinnamon or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
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German Plum Cake
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Ingredients
For the dough
- 500 g flour
- 230 ml of milk
- 7 g of dry yeast
- 120 g sugar
- 120 g butter soft
- 1 egg
- Vanilla extract
For the filling
- 2 kg of plums
- 45 g of brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Instructions
- Start by heating the milk. The temperature should be slightly warm, below 35°C to avoid killing the yeast.
- Pour the milk into a small bowl, add the dry yeast, a spoonful of sugar and flour taken from the total amount. Mix and let stand for 15 minutes to activate the yeast.
- In a large bowl, pour the flour and sugar. Add the milk and yeast mixture and mix with a kitchen machine. Add the butter and then the egg. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Let the dough rise between 2 and 12 hours at room temperature in a relatively warm place.
- Then wash the plums, remove the pit and cut them into 4.
- After minimum two hours of resting, the dough should have doubled in volume. Remove the air by flattening the dough and knead it for 2 minutes. Roll out the dough into a rectangle the size of your baking sheet.
- Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and butter the edges well so they don’t stick. Place the dough on the bottom of the baking sheet and arrange the plums on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Bake in the oven (conventional heat) for 30-35 min at 200 °C. Let the cake stand for 15 minutes before serving.