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    Home » Recipes » Cakes, Cupcakes & Cheesecakes

    Published: Jul 29, 2019 · Updated: Sep 3, 2021 by Paula Montenegro
    Income from ads and affiliate links29 Comments

    Almond Plum Cake

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    Jump to Recipe
    Almond Plum Cake long pin with text

    One of the best plum cakes I ever made! Ground almonds give it texture, honey adds sweetness, and all is balanced by the sourness of the fresh plums. Stone fruit at its best.

    Table of Contents show
    Prepare the plums
    Cutting the fruit
    Tips & tricks
    Serving it
    Almond plum cake
    Ingredients
    Nutrition

    Half cut and slices of plum almond cake on white parchment paper

    Plums get all the credit for making the best looking rustic cakes ever, don't they? And tarts too, let's not forget the all-time favorite crumble plum tart.

    End of the summer stone fruit always makes me rush into the kitchen for those last recipes with peaches and plums.

    But plums, especially red ones (image below), can at times be too sour or mushy making them the perfect ingredient for lifting up a pie or cake. A great example is this almond plum cake, dense, moist, and full of flavor. I know perfect is a bit too much, but really, it tastes amazing, keeps well and is so pretty!.

    White bowl of whole red plums on a table

    Prepare the plums

    I mention this gadget every time I use plums in a recipe. The best and easiest way to pit plums is with an apple corer. Yup, you heard right.

    You can see in the image below, left, how the core comes off impeccably without much flesh attached. So the plum is pitted but not much harm is done to the fruit. Have you ever tried to make a cut and open the plum in half by holding each side with your hands and moving in opposite directions? Not pretty. Most of the times part of the plums get crushed.

    And we need to cut nice wedges, so this way of doing it is by far the best! Click to buy an apple corer online.

    Image collage of pitted plums and unbaked plum cake

    Cutting the fruit

    I like to cut wedges that would fit in a bite. That way it's easier to eat, even if it's with your hands at a picnic or summer gathering. So I cut each half plum in 3 or 4 pieces.

    I like to make a circle (image above, right) and fill the center with extra wedges. The way the plums are arranged is irrelevant when it comes to flavor, but a pretty cake is always a good idea, it's more enticing.

    Whole almond plum cake on white surface

    Tips & tricks 

    • Plums: I love red plums, but any type you like will work. Use firm ones, not soft overripen ones as they don't cut well and don't hold their shape as well.
    • Honey: this is an important part. Don't be tempted to add more honey. The cake will take ages to bake completely, if ever. Learn from my experience. Any type of honey works, but runny is always easier to mix.
    • Pan size: it is very important to use the pan specified in the recipe because otherwise, it might not bake properly. You can use a slightly larger pan (the cake will be shorter) but never smaller.
    • Keeping: the cake keeps for a few days well, at room t°. I find that refrigerating it dries it up too much for my taste. And it's not the ideal cake to freeze. You can of course, but I wouldn't recommend it highly. I like to eat it the day it is baked, two days at the most.
    • Variations: this is a superb cake with other stone fruit - peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries.

    Close-up of almond plum cake on white parchment paper

    Serving it

    Make it in a square pan since this is the ultimate picnic/potluck summer cake.
    The one you take over to your friend's house for a barbecue, or the one you share with friends at the beach. Square is always easier to cut, and eat.

    I like to serve it as dessert also with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you slightly warm the cake before adding the ice cream... well, I can vouch for the oohs and aahs.

    Slices of plum cake on white parchment paper

    Other recipes you might like:
    Plum Crumble Tart
    Honey Stone Fruit with Cream 
    Plum Loaf Cake
    Plum Hazelnut Upside-down Cake (gluten-free)
    Blueberry Peach Upside-down Cake
    Cherry Caipiroska
    Cherry Almond Crumble

    Let me know if you make this recipe! I’d love to hear what you think about it.
    Thank you for being here, I appreciate it! Let’s connect via Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

     

    Print
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    Close-up of almond plum cake on white parchment paper

    Almond plum cake

    ★★★★★ 4.8 from 12 reviews
    • Author: Paula Montenegro
    • Prep Time: 20
    • Cook Time: 40
    • Total Time: 1 hour
    • Yield: 6 servings 1x
    • Category: Cakes
    • Method: Baking
    • Cuisine: International
    Print Recipe
    Save Recipe Recipe Saved

    Description

    Let me tell you this is one of the best plum cakes ever. It has almonds, honey and that awesome balance between sweet and sour from the fresh plums.


    Ingredients

    Scale
    • 6 tablespoons (85g) butter
    • ⅔ cup (135g) fine muscovado or dark brown sugar
    • 2 tablespoons runny honey
    • 1 egg, at room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • ½ teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 cup (95g) ground almonds, or almond flour
    • ¾ cup (70g) superfine whole wheat flour
    • 3-4 red plums (stoned and each half in fourths)
    • Powdered sugar (to serve)

    Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350ºF / 180ºC.
    2. Line or butter an 8-inch round with removable bottom or square cake pan lined with parchment paper.
    3. Melt butter in a large bowl.
    4. Add sugar and honey. Mix well with a hand beater.
    5. Add egg, extracts, salt and baking powder. Mix well until creamy.
    6. Add flours in 2 or 3 parts, mixing well, but not too much.
    7. Pour into the prepared pan and arrange plum pieces on top.
    8. Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until a tester comes almost dry (this is a very moist cake so it will not be completely dry).
    9. Let cool completely on wire rack.
    10. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top (not too much) and serve.

    Notes

    • Plums: I love red plums, but any type you like will work. Use firm ones, not soft overripen ones as they don't cut well and don't hold their shape as well.
    • Honey: this is an important part. Don't be tempted to add more honey. The cake will take ages to bake completely, if ever. Learn from my experience. Any type of honey works, but runny is always easier to mix.
    • Pan size: it is very important to use the pan specified in the recipe because otherwise, it might not bake properly. You can use a slightly larger pan (the cake will be shorter) but never smaller.
    • Keeping: the cake keeps for a few days well, at room t°. I find that refrigerating it dries it up too much for my taste. And it's not the ideal cake to freeze. You can of course, but I wouldn't recommend it highly. I like to eat it the day it is baked, two days at the most.
    • Variations: this is a superb cake with other stone fruit - peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries.

    Nutrition

    • Serving Size: ⅛
    • Calories: 276
    • Sugar: 19.2 g
    • Sodium: 87.2 mg
    • Fat: 15.1 g
    • Carbohydrates: 30.6 g
    • Protein: 5.6 g
    • Cholesterol: 46.1 mg

    Keywords: plum cake, plum almond cake

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Debbie Kivrak says

      October 05, 2021 at 1:52 pm

      Hi Natasha
      My cake is a complete disaster,took 50 mins to cook and was very dark.
      I'm a trained cook and was very disappointed. The plums sunk.

      Reply
    2. Paula says

      September 13, 2021 at 4:29 pm

      I was hesitant to make this because the method is unconventional (melting butter vs whipping it with sugar for instance). I panicked when I saw how little batter there was so I switched to a 7" pan and even with a smaller pan the cake barely rose and was more like a big pancake. The taste & texture were similar to other reviewers: fudgy and almond-y. I think this recipe has potential but I would play around with the method and ingredients to get it to be more "cake-like". Taste was good.

      ★★★

      Reply
    3. JL says

      September 05, 2021 at 1:56 pm

      A keeper! Agreed with a previous comment of not being sure when it went into the oven, and even after it came out. But boy, the magic happened after it cooled down. Moist and chewy and full of complex flavors and textures from the honey, ground almonds, vanilla and plums and whole wheat flour. Tastes like it came from a very expensive bakery. The cake remained moist and tasted great even the next day.

      Reply
      • Paula Montenegro says

        September 05, 2021 at 2:37 pm

        So happy to hear this JL! And you explained it so well. Thanks for taking the time to do so. Have a great week!

        Reply
    4. Dhruv says

      August 22, 2021 at 2:47 am

      I made this cake yesterday. I was a bit unsure when I put the dough in the oven since it looked quite thick in consistency, and not as much in quantity. The cake rose enough, and was yummy! The brown sugar, honey and almond flour bring out a lovely taste. Will definitely make it again.

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Paula Montenegro says

        August 22, 2021 at 7:12 am

        Yes, completely agree that it is a dense cake, but with great flavors. Happy to hear it turned out well Dhruv! Have a great week.

        Reply
    5. aruna says

      January 23, 2021 at 1:32 pm

      how much butter is it in weight, hard to measure in tbsps. I find

      thanks

      Reply
      • Paula Montenegro says

        January 23, 2021 at 2:17 pm

        It's 85g Aruna

        Reply
    6. malcolm trachtenberg says

      November 02, 2020 at 4:50 pm

      I used Hazelnut meal instead, since that's what I had, and it was delicious except almost fudgy..didn't rise at all..took an hr ...so I tried it using baking soda instead since I read that many of the ingredients are acidic and needed to raise the ph....doubled in size and wasn't so dense...so my question is did you intend to write bs instead of bp?

      ★★★★

      Reply
      • Paula Montenegro says

        November 02, 2020 at 5:27 pm

        Hi Malcolm, the recipe uses baking powder, but maybe using baking soda is the best option. I like it dense, but will try your version and see how it goes. Thanks for the comment!

        Reply
    7. Nataliya says

      August 19, 2020 at 12:45 am

      Hands down, the best plum cake ever! Almond flavor pairs so well with plums. The recipe is easy to follow and the results are scrumptious! Yum-yum!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Paula Montenegro says

        August 19, 2020 at 6:49 am

        So happy you liked it Nataliya!

        Reply
    8. Maia says

      July 03, 2020 at 12:53 am

      This is sooooooo delicious!!! Just made double the recipe and gave one to my neighbors and kept one for my family. We just finished the whole thing in one sitting...we each had two big slices. Such a great recipe. Thank you!!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • Paula Montenegro says

        July 03, 2020 at 6:33 am

        Thanks YOU for the comment Maia!

        Reply
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    A baker for more than 30 years and your designated recipe finder, sharing the best ones on this blog, with simple ingredients + easy-to-follow instructions.

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