This is a fantastic and easy cake, with a beautifully moist and dense crumb and a caramel tone from the brown sugar. Topped with a layer of sweet juicy plums that soften just enough to make it irresistible.
Sweet and simple
I found plums in the fridge, so it was time to update this beautiful plum cake I've been making for years now.
- It started as a loaf cake, but I found that a round, shorter cake bakes better, and you get more plums because it allows for more wedges on top. A good thing for sure.
- I made it today with oil, but I sometimes use half butter. They are both excellent, and it depends if you want a quicker mix with oil or insist on some of that butter flavor.
- Plums work very well with this sweet cake batter because they have a good acid level, but it's a great recipe to use with other stone fruit: peaches, nectarines, apricots and even cherries.
Ingredient list
- Plums: This is a cake made with fresh plums, so use your favorite kind. I like red ones, because they are easily available and juicy.
- Oil. You want to use a neutral one, like sunflower, so it doesn't overpower the other flavors. Alternatively, you can use half the amount of butter.
- Eggs: fresh, large.
- Vanilla extract.
- White granulated sugar.
- Brown sugar: light or dark.
Quantities are listed in the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
Step-by-step VIDEO
This cake is very easy to make. There's no need to use a stand mixer, but you totally can. I find it simpler to use the electric hand-held one.
Kitchen Notes
- Organization: always read the recipe before starting and make sure you have all the ingredients measured and at the right temperature, the right pan size, utensils, and enough counter space to work comfortably.
- Loaf pan: you can use large loaf pan and you will have a taller cake with less fruit on top.
- Flavorings: plums pair well with cinnamon, cardamom, and almond, so you can add a large pinch of one of the spices and some pure almond extract. Also tangerine zest if you don't have oranges. Or no orange zest and use more spice.
- Storing: this cake keeps well for several days in the fridge, well wrapped, and can be frozen up to a month. Keep in mind that frozen fruit never comes back to its original state. But it still works.
- Gluten-free variation: check out our recipe for plum yogurt gluten-free cake.
Related recipes you might like:
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Fresh Plum cake
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This is a fantastic and easy cake, with a beautifully moist and dense crumb, with a caramel tone from the brown sugar. A layer of sweet juicy plums is on top that softens just enough to make it irresistible. You can make it with oil or half butter. It comes together quickly.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup sunflower oil, or another neutral one (If you want to use half oil and half butter, see Notes, below)
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 7 or 8 red plums, or purple, halved, pitted, and cut into wedges
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar, for sprinkling before baking
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
- Butter or spray a round 8-inch cake pan (22cm).
- Working a hand mixer (or stand mixer) in a large bowl, beat 2 eggs adding ¼ cup white sugar and ½ cup packed brown sugar gradually and beating for another 2 minutes, until thick and lighter in color.
- Add ½ cup sunflower oil in a thin stream, beating for a minute or two, until it thickens.
- Add 1 teaspoon orange zest and 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract and mix well.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low speed and add the sifted dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking powder) in 2 parts, mixing only until they are incorporated. You can sift them directly over the oil batter or sift them in a different bowl and then add.
- Run a spatula around the bowl and under the batter, just to make sure there are no dry spots, then scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
- Arrange 7 or 8 red plums cut in wedges in a circle, or however you want. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon brown sugar on top.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, or until top is brown and puffed around the plums that are juicy and wrinkled, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Ovens are all different so it might take a little more or a little less time to fully bake.
- Transfer to a wire rack and cool, then run a knife around the sides of the pan and remove the cake.
- Serve at room temperature, plain with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
Notes
Oil and butter: you can use both instead of only oil. Use ¼ cup of oil and ¼ cup of butter, at room temperature. Beat soft butter with sugar for 2 minutes, add eggs, one at a time, and then oil in a stream, beating until you have a thick, satiny batter. Follow from step 5 in the recipe above.
Organization: always read the recipe before starting and make sure you have all the ingredients measured and at the right temperature, the right pan size, utensils, and enough counter space to work comfortably.
Loaf pan: You can use a large loaf pan, and the cake will be taller with less fruit on top.
Flavorings: Plums pair well with cinnamon, cardamom, and almond, so you can add a large pinch of one of the spices and some pure almond extract. Also, tangerine zest if you don't have oranges. Or, you can use no orange zest and more spice.
Storing: This cake keeps well for several days in the fridge, well wrapped, and can be frozen for up to a month. Keep in mind that frozen fruit never comes back to its original state, but it still works.
Fruit: Plums work very well with this sweet cake batter because they have a good acid level, but it's a great recipe to use with other stone fruits, such as peaches, nectarines, apricots and even cherries.
Did you try this recipe?Let me know in the comments below!
Adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Andrea Haugh says
Want to try tonight but only have 9 inch pan and one 8 inch square pan. Do I have to buy a 8 inch round pan….?
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Andrea, absolutely not! Use the 8 inch square one. If you use the 9 inch the cake will be shorter and the baking time a little less, so check 10 minutes before the time specified.
angiesrecipes says
Tender with perfect moist and so fruity with gorgeous purple plums! I would definitely go for a 2nd piece 🙂
Xena says
I know this post is from February but I just saw this and love the picture. I had tasted my friend's plum cake and really liked it. Since then I'm always looking for good plum cake recipes.