I’ll share a secret with you: the term Plum Cake literally translated means Plum Pie! Did you know? Until last week, I didn’t, until I started studying this recipe, I was completely unaware. Yet how many times have we heard or said Plumcake without ever really meaning or preparing a plum cake?
If any of you knew already, I’m happy for you, in fact congratulations. For those who didn’t, I think you probably had the same surprised face I did. Now, it’s not that we can never say Plumcake again, but at least we know that the correct translation is Plum Pie.
However, I’ll also add another piece of information, this time historical. It’s thought that the plumcake originated in Germany, as a meat dish garnished with plums (would you believe it) and dried fruits. Then, during the Victorian era in England, it became a plum and dried fruit dessert, but quite different from the breakfast plumcake we know and make today. It was more similar to a plum tart, with a hard texture, and was preserved for days.
The Plum Cake Plum Pie Recipe I’m presenting this morning is not obviously the original recipe, otherwise I would have had to prepare a meat dish or a tart, as I’m still trying to understand the true origin of the dish and the term.
So, I’m sharing my recipe for the plumcake with plums, with plums available from late June until autumn. With their various colors and acidity levels, plums are perfect for this dessert. They’re juicy enough, with a thick skin and that tart touch that contrasts with sugar and yogurt. I’ve also added Cinnamon, now one of my favorite ingredients for desserts since last year. I must admit that for years I neither used nor ate sweets or other preparations with Cinnamon. Then I discovered that if added in small doses, slowly, it began to please me. To the point that I use it often and add more and more. Even though true lovers, like my Grandma Sandra and some colleagues at work, keep telling me that I could add more and more. Let’s say I’m getting used to its taste and smell.
I’ll explain how to prepare the basic plumcake mixture, as I did in the Classic Plumcake Butter-Free Recipe, how to cut the plums for this dessert and finally how not to ruin it during baking, often the step that scares you the most and is the easiest to get wrong.
Below are clickable links to read the other plumcake recipes I’ve shared over the years, from the classic plumcake mentioned, to the plum cake with jam that stays in the center and doesn’t sink to the bottom, to the Pistac Cake with rice flour to the more famous Banana Bread. You’ll also find the Plumcake Recipes Collection for a 25 cm mold like mine. If you want to purchase it, click here.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 10People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Summer, Spring, Summer, and Fall
- Energy 233.23 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 34.44 (g) of which sugars 28.21 (g)
- Proteins 3.86 (g)
- Fat 9.81 (g) of which saturated 1.85 (g)of which unsaturated 7.38 (g)
- Fibers 1.46 (g)
- Sodium 57.53 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 86 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Plum Cake Plum Pie
- 9 oz red plum (you can also choose another type of plum)
- 2 eggs (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (or white sugar if you prefer)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil (or 1/3 cup of butter if you prefer)
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour (for soft cakes, previously sifted)
- 1/3 cup potato starch
- 3 1/2 tbsp milk (at room temperature)
- 1 container yogurt (preferably plain, small container)
- 1 packet baking powder (preferably non-vanilla)
- 1 pinch salt
- to taste ground cinnamon (as much as you like, in my case a lot)
The Cinnamon among the ingredients is considered optional. The sugar variation or the substitution of oil with butter does not significantly alter the success of this fresh plum dessert.
I did not specify the resting time for the plums in the refrigerator because during that time we will prepare the plum cake base to avoid wasting time.
Tools for preparing the Fresh Plum Pie
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Electric whisk
- 1 Scale
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Mold
- 1 Parchment paper
- 1 Oven
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Small bowl
- 1 Tea towel
Steps for Fresh Plum Pie Recipe with Yogurt Butter-Free
Let’s start preparing the plum cake with plums, beginning with the plums themselves. Take the plums you’ve chosen, wash them quickly under the running water and pat them dry with a kitchen towel or a tea towel. Place them on a wooden cutting board and, with a knife, start slicing the plums. First, halve them to easily remove the pit, then slice them. They shouldn’t be too thin, so make thick slices with the skin. I didn’t mention removing the skin from the plums. Place the slices in a small bowl and sprinkle some brown sugar and cinnamon over them, mix with a spoon and let them rest in the refrigerator.
Once this step is done, we can focus on the basic plumcake mixture. We’ll use eggs, flour, potato starch, vegetable oil, milk, yogurt, baking powder, and a pinch of salt. It doesn’t get simpler than this! Preheat the oven to static mode, as it’s a cake with leavening, to 356°F.
Take a bowl with high sides, electric whisks, and the scale. Weigh and sift the flours, then proceed with weighing the other ingredients. Place everything in front of you on the work surface.
Break the eggs into the bowl, adding the amount of brown sugar, or white sugar if you prefer, and work at medium speed with the whisks. Then add the other liquids: vegetable oil, milk, and yogurt. Preferably plain so as not to overpower the scent of cinnamon and plums.
After mixing all the liquids, proceed with adding the flours. Sift the cake flour with the potato starch and baking powder together. Then, with a spoon, gradually add the flours to the bowl with the liquids. I recommend doing it this way. Then sprinkle the mixture with cinnamon and mix with a spatula. This gives us the base mixture for the plum dessert.
Take a sheet of parchment paper, turn the plumcake mold upside down, and shape the paper on the back of the mold. Soon, I’ll make a short video to better explain this step. Then flip it over and place the parchment paper in the mold. If you prefer, you can butter or grease the mold, then dust it lightly with flour. I find parchment paper works well.
Pour the mixture into the mold and level the surface with a spatula. Take the plums from the refrigerator and start placing them on top of the plumcake mixture. If you have enough plum slices, you can make two overlapping layers like I did. If not, slice more plums and sprinkle them with cinnamon and brown sugar before using.
I made two vertical lines with horizontal slices, as seen in the photos. Then some slices vertically to close any remaining space. The first layout you make goes in the middle during baking, so apply gentle pressure. Since we’ll place more plums on top, you don’t need to press down too hard to the bottom of the mold.
Place the second serpentine of plum slices, sprinkle with more cinnamon and brown sugar, and bake. Bake at 356°F to 374°F (static mode) for at least 40-45 minutes. Always check with a wooden skewer before turning off the oven. Being a dessert with fresh fruit, which releases liquids during baking, the timing may vary.
Once ready, remove the dessert from the oven and let it cool for at least two hours before removing it from the mold. Otherwise, it might break or crack if still warm. Once cool, place it in a cake container, still wrapped with parchment paper. That’s why I recommended using parchment paper as a lining from the mold, since we’ll use it later. It helps preserve our fresh plum dessert.
I didn’t include powdered sugar in the ingredient list, as seen in the photos, it’s not something I really like. At home, we’re not fans either, with fruit desserts it’s a hassle, dust with sugar, and in seconds it’s gone as it’s absorbed by the fruit’s moisture. So if you like it, use it, otherwise skip it, like me, and it will be just as good, if not better without it!
At this point, I just want to remind you that I wait for you every morning on the Facebook fan page of Le Ricette di Bea with the Recipe of the Day, find all the social media profiles of the blog in the box below. Enjoy your meal and see you at the next recipe!!!
Economical plum dessert if made during the plum harvest season, I found a kilo of red plums on sale for 2.59 euros. I used half for this Plum Cake Plum Pie recipe and kept the other half as a snack. Always be mindful of the seasonality of products as it benefits both the environment and your wallet.
Storing the Plum Cake Plum Pie
To keep the Plumcake soft, remember to wrap it in parchment paper and then place it in a container, preferably airtight. The Plumcake with fresh plums is perfect for breakfast or a snack and is definitely more inviting if it stays soft and tender, bite after bite.
