German Plum Cake (Pflaumenkuchen)

eeturner

5 years ago

A sweet, yeast dough, layered with ripe plums and sprinkled with a pinch of cinnamon!

Pflaumenkuchen is one of the first cakes I tried on my first trip to Germany. It was the first of many delicious cakes that I got to try all made by my Schwiegermutter (mother-in-love).

What I love about this cake is that is indeed quite simple to prepare, but it looks so elegant especially when you are serving it and you can see the beautiful ruby red plums layered on top of the dough.

The dough is a simple, sweet yeast dough but the plums are definitely the star of this show, so it is best to make this cake during plum season for optimal quality.

Here’s my recipe:

Pflaumenkuchen (German Plum Cake)

1.5 -2 kilos plums (3-4lbs)
pinch of ground cinnamon to sprinkle on top after baking
1 TBSP vegetable oil (or any neutral oil)
2 TBSP softened butter (for greasing the pan)

For the dough:

2 tsp dry yeast
2/3 c warm milk
2 TBSP melted butter
1 whole egg (large)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 2/3-3 cups white flour (plus a bit more for kneading)

For the streusel:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup white sugar

Preparation:

To prepare the dough: In a large bowl, combine the yeast, warm milk, melted butter and 1 whole egg, stirring well with each addition. Then continue stirring and gradually add in the sugar and then the flour. Keep stirring until the dough comes off the sides of the bowl and forms a ball, adding more flour as needed. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3 to 5 minutes and then shape into a ball.

Lightly grease a bowl with 1 TBSP of vegetable oil (or any neutral oil) and place the dough in the bowl, flipping over to ensure that both sides are coated with the oil. Then cover with a damp kitchen towel and place it in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour, until it has doubled in size.

While the dough rises, line a large sheet pan with parchment paper and grease with 2 TBSP of softened butter.

After the dough has risen, remove from the bowl and gently stretch the dough out onto the greased parchment paper.

Cover the dough again and allow it to rest again for 25-30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven on 375F/190C.

Meanwhile, de-pit the plums and cut them into quarters of leave them as halves if you prefer.

Then layer the plums, flesh side up on top of the dough and set aside.

To make the streusel: combine the flour, sugar and softened butter in a large bowl and with your clean hands, crumble everything together to form the streusel crumbs.

Immediately, layer the streusel on top of the plums and then place the Pflaumenkuchen in the oven to bake for about 30-45 minutes or until the dough is lightly browned.