German Plum Cake Recipe

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Learn how to make German Plum Cake using my granny’s easy traditional plum cake recipe! You will love this German Pflaumenkuchen so much – moist, fluffy, and made with simple ingredients! 

Try my granny’s easy recipe for Authentic German Plum Cake this fall!

Coming at you with another traditional German cake recipe from my beloved German Grandma, who is simply the best baker out there.

Back home in Germany, late summer is when you would reliably find a German Plum Cake on the family coffee table every Sunday afternoon. Such a wonderful easy late summer dessert… a bit tart, a bit sweet, moist and fluffy. Served still slightly warm with soft whipped cream. Special enough for a Sunday Afternoon Coffee but easy enough for an every day treat.

This German plum cake tastes better than any fancy bakery cake and is hard to beat in terms of prep time and simplicity of ingredients. You probably already have everything in the pantry and it comes together quickly too. Just remember to take the ingredients out of the refrigerator in time.

The German plum cake comes out of the oven perfectly risen, with super juicy pockets of plums, tart & fruity, and beautifully baked. Serve it lukewarm dusted with powdered sugar and a dollop of half-whipped cream. People will go crazy! It also makes a phenomenal sweet breakfast.

If you can, try and get small Italian Prune Plums. Those are excellent for making an authentic German Plum Cake! They are extra flavorful, a bit tart, firm, and not overly juicy. It’s better to use plums that feel firm, otherwise, you will end up with a big soupy mess while cutting the cake up. If you feel your plums were quite juicy, make sure to let it cool down completely before cutting and give the batter some time to absorb the juices. Use whichever plums you have, but make sure they are not too soft. It will be absolutely delicious!

How to make German plum cake

We want a cake batter that is not only juicy but also fluffy:

First, butter and sugar must be whisked until creamy – do this with patience. Whisk the butter first, then add in sugar. The creaming is only possible when the butter is nice and soft, so please remember to take it out of the fridge. The eggs are stirred in one after the other for 30 seconds each. It’s worth the wait.

I love using cream instead of milk in my cake batters. It has a higher fat content and therefore makes the cake super moist and more tender.

A mixture of flour, cornstarch and baking powder makes for the perfect fluffy and light batter! Mix the baking powder, starch, salt, and flour together before stirring it into the egg mix. That way you can be sure that the baking powder will be nicely distributed in the batter and that it will rise evenly.

Then mix the dry mixture in, alternating with the cream. Pour the batter into the springform pan and top it with plums. In the oven, it goes for about 50 minutes. The more plums you put on the cake, the longer it has to bake.

Check for doneness: insert a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake and pull it out. If no batter sticks to it, it’s done.

Why is my cake not rising?

Did you forget the baking powder or used expired baking powder? Oh yes, rising agents can lose their powers if the (open) sachet is stored for too long. Otherwise: Did you really add the eggs one at a time, beat each for half a minute? A shot of mineral water can help the next time.

Can you make the batter ahead of time?

Batters with baking powder can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. However, in a perfect world, the batter should be baked immediately after preparation. The baking powder it contains reacts to moisture. The rising power is lost if it is stored for too long.

Storing plum cake:

You can freeze the cake without hesitation. Let cool down completely, then cut the cake into pieces and carefully wrap them in cling film. When you’re ready to enjoy a piece, take it out of the freezer and let it thaw at room temperature.

After defrosting, you can bake the plum cake at 350 F for five to ten minutes. The plum cake can be stored in the freezer for up to six months. Caution: once thawed, cakes should not be frozen again.

Tips:

• When shopping for plums you should make sure that the fruits are ripe, firm, but not hard.
• If the plums give off a lot of juice when they are pitted, it is best to place them in a sieve to drain until the cake batter is prepared.
• German plum cake tastes best when it is lukewarm.
• Of course, you can also bake this traditional German cake recipe with other types of stone fruit. I imagine mirabelle plums, nectarines, cherries, peaches, red currants or apricots to be just wonderful in this.

More traditional German Cake recipes you will love:

• German Poppy Seed Lemon Cake 
• Omas German Apricot Cake 
• German Vegan Rhubarb Cake 
• Granny’s Red Wine Cake with Pears
• German Apple Cake 
• Easy German Plum Cake with streusel topping or German Plum Cake ” Zwetschgendatschi”

★ Did you make and love this German plum cake recipe? Give it your review below! And make sure to share your creations by tagging me on Instagram!

5 from 4 votes

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German Plum Cake

Learn how to make the best authentic German Plum Cake using my granny's easy fail-proof recipe! You will love this traditional plum dessert - moist, fluffy, and made with simple ingredients!  

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine germany

Keyword German Plum Cake, Plum Cake recipe, traditional German cake recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 12

Calories 360 kcal

Ingredients

• 160 g butter softened - 2/3 cups
• 150 g of sugar 3/4 cups
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 big pinch salt
• 4 eggs free range at room temperature
• 200 g all purpose flour 1 1/4 cups - sifted together with the cornstarch
• 50 g cornstarch 1/4 cups
• 17 g baking powder 3 tsp
• 0.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
• 5 tbsp heavy cream
• 500 g plums or plums about 1 pound

topping

• icing sugar

Instructions

1. Preheated oven to 160 degrees and line a form with baking paper.

2. Wash, pit and quarter the plums. Cream the softened butter with the sugar, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl for at least 5 minutes until creamy white and fluffy.

3. Gradually stir in the eggs one at a time for 1/2 minute each.

4. SIFT the flour together with the baking powder, cinnamon (optional) and cornstarch and sift into a bowl. Then stir into the egg mix alternating with the cream.

5. Now pour the batter in a prepared lined springform pan and smooth everything out. Arrange the fruits in a circle on top of the batter.

6. Bake in the preheated oven ( place in the middle) for approx. 50 - 55 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick.

7. When the baking time is over, take the cake out of the oven, let it cool down in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove the springform pan, place the cake on a wire rack and let it cool down. Serve dusted with icing sugar and whipped cream on the side.

Recipe Notes

• When shopping for plums you should make sure that the fruits are ripe, firm, but not hard. 
• If the plums give off a lot of juice when they are pitted, it is best to place them in a sieve to drain until the cake batter is prepared.
• German plum cake tastes best when it is lukewarm.
• Of course, you can also bake this traditional German cake recipe with other types of stone fruit. I imagine mirabelle plums, nectarines, cherries, peaches, red currants or apricots to be just wonderful in this.