Make a beautiful Plum Cake using basic pantry staples! This buttery sponge cake adorned with juicy plums, cinnamon, and sugar is a delicious way to savor the in-season fruit. It's ideal for brunch or dessert, especially when crowned with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Plus, explore variations by using peaches, apricots, figs, or berries for a year-round treat.
This is an adaptation of the iconic NY TIMES Plum torte, with my simple swaps and small adjustments. The flavor of this bakery-style cake is amazing wether enjoyed warm or cold!
Jump To
- Why You'll Love This Plum Torte
- Fruit Filled Desserts
- How To Choose The Ripest Plums?
- How Do You Remove The Pit From A Plum?
- 🛒Ingredients
- 🥣Instructions
- How Does The Plum Cake Taste?
- ⏲️ Recommended Equipment
- 📋Tips
- Storage Instructions
- 👪Serving Suggestions
- Love Simple Cake Recipes? Try these!
- 🤷Frequently Asked Questions
- 📖Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Why You'll Love This Plum Torte
- Simplicity is the theme here - Basic ingredients like butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and plums come together in effortless steps to create a delicious golden brown cake!
- Use your favorite stone fruit varieties or berries - Experiment with different fruit by incorporating peaches, apricots, nectarines, cranberries, figs, sliced apples, or berries. Use what you have and in season!
- Great to make ahead as this plum cake tastes even better the next day!
Fruit Filled Desserts
How To Choose The Ripest Plums?
When selecting ripe plums, go for those with a consistent, vibrant color, a slightly yielding firmness, and a sweet aroma around the stem area.
Avoid plums that are too hard or wrinkled, and consider the specific indicators of ripeness for different varieties.
Plums are typically available late summer or throughout May to early October across different states.
How Do You Remove The Pit From A Plum?
To remove the pit from a plum, start by cutting it vertically along the seam from the stem end to the bottom.
Twist the plum halves apart, then gently scoop the pit from one half using your fingers or a small spoon. That's it!
🛒Ingredients
- Plums - You'll need about a pound of ripe, firm plums without pits. To make it rustic, tear them apart; for a fancier touch, slice them evenly. Choose ripe and fragrant plums that yield slightly when pressed gently.
- Sugar - I typically use regular granulated white sugar for this. While brown sugar can also be used, keep in mind its more pronounced flavor, which could influence the cake's taste. For the topping of the cake, you can use turbinado sugar as well. It is a coarse sugar, that doesn't melt and blend into batter like regular sugar which will give the topping some nice coarse crunch.
- Butter - Bring to room temperature, it should be softened but not overly soft and melted. This is the key to the airy and fluffy cake!
- Baking powder - Helps the cake to rise. Take care to store your baking powder in a cool and dry place, sealed tightly. Also check the expiration date, if your baking powder has been opened for more than 6 months it probably has lost its quality and won’t work for this recipe. Or try these tricks to see if your baking powder is still active.
- Eggs - Same as with butter, should be at room temperature otherwise it will cool down the butter.
- Flour - Just all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour blend 1:1 replacement (either homemade or popular brands such as Bob's Red Mill). The texture will be different and may turn out to be denser. I believe cake flour should work too, if you try it let me know!
- Vanilla extract - For the perfect vanilla-flavored cake, use pure and not the artificial kind and not the vanilla sugar. Alternatively, you can experiment with other extracts such as lemon extract (great if not using lemon juice like in the original plum cake recipe), rum extract, or almond extract.
For the full list of ingredients, please scroll down to where you'll find the recipe card.
Cardamom - The original NYT Plum Cake recipe uses lemon juice and has no cardamom addition but we are going to change it slightly as it tastes even better this way!
🥣Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease the inside of an 8-inch springform pan with butter.
Place parchment paper on the bottom and butter the edges. You can use a 9-inch cake pan, but I find that it makes rather flat cake.
In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy (use an electric hand mixer, stand mixer or food processor).
Tip: You can use an electric mixer, or achieve the same result with a wooden spoon and some manual effort, which takes around 3 minutes.
Add the eggs one by one, making sure they are fully integrated after each addition.
Carefully sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix until the ingredients are just blended.
Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the surface evenly.
Arrange the halved plums with their cut sides facing up, and gently press them into the batter using your fingers.
Mix together the topping ingredients: sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon, then sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the cake.
Put the cake in the oven and bake for around 50 minutes to an hour, or until it becomes a golden brown color and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for a minimum of 30 minutes before cutting.
Enjoy it either warm or at room temperature. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the cake overnight for a different experience; serving it cold is equally enjoyable.
How Does The Plum Cake Taste?
A classic vanilla cake that's sweet and spiced with the comforting warmth of cinnamon and cardamom. Paired with the tartness of plums, each moist and soft bite offers a burst of juicy tanginess. Delicious!
⏲️ Recommended Equipment
📋Tips
- In the original famous cake, there's no cardamom but I like the addition of it and how it enhances the cake. Feel free to leave it out and just use cinnamon alone.
- For this recipe, a springform pan is ideal. It simplifies removing the cake from the pan and is also convenient for storing.
- Feel free to use other stone fruits like peaches, apricots, or nectarines in this recipe. However, be cautious not to add too much fruit, as it might affect the cake's baking process.
- Baking times can differ a bit depending on your oven. Juicy fruit can also affect cooking time.
Storage Instructions
- 🍱To Store. Keep this plum cake in an airtight container with a dome lid or cake box for up to 3 days once it's cooled. If you want it to last even longer, store it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- 🥶Freezing. After the plum cake has cooled down, wrap it tightly with storage wrap or foil. For added protection, you can also put it in a freezer-safe bag. To save individual portions, wrap and freeze slices separately. Whether whole or sliced, the cake will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To Make Ahead. You can bake the plum cake a day or two ahead of when you plan to serve it. Once it's cooled completely, cover it tightly withstorage wrap or store it in an airtight container. This helps to keep the cake moist and prevents it from drying out.
👪Serving Suggestions
Serve this cake like you’d serve any cake, wth tea or a cup of coffee or like my rhubarb cake, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!
And you can never go wrong with dusting this kind of fruit cake with powdered sugar!
Love Simple Cake Recipes? Try these!
For all tasty treats, scroll through our Desserts archives.
🤷Frequently Asked Questions
A Torte resembles a cake, featuring a soft, airy texture. It can have multiple layers with fillings like mousses and pastry creams. On the other hand, a Tart is a thin dessert, about 1" high, made by pressing pastry into a pan and filling it. It's akin to a pie in nature.
Mian ingreidents for plum cake are plums, flour, butter, eggs and sugar.
For the best plum cake, select ripe, firm, slightly sweet plums with vibrant colors and gentle yielding texture. Varieties like Italian Prune Plums or Damsons, though any plum works, should not be overly ripe. Opt for smaller, more tart plums and slice them into eighths or quarters depending on their size to achieve optimal results in the cake.
Italian Prune Plums, also known as Empress or Stanley plums, have blue or purple skin and yellow flesh that separates easily from the pit. These plums are cherished for their sweet-tart flavor and firm texture, making them excellent for baking and cooking applications.
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❤️Did you make this recipe? Please be sure to leave a rating and a comment below. Thank you!❤️
📖Recipe
Easy Plum Cake (Plum Torte)
Ingredients
- 13 ounce plums or other stone fruit, pitted and halved
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease the inside of an 8-inch springform pan with butter.
- Place parchment paper on the bottom and butter the edges. You can use a 9-inch cake pan, but I find that it makes rather flat cake.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy (use an electric hand mixer, stand mixer or food processor).
- You can use an electric mixer, or achieve the same result with a wooden spoon and some manual effort, which takes around 3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one by one, making sure they are fully integrated after each addition.
- Carefully sift in the flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix until the ingredients are just blended.
- Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the surface evenly.
- Arrange the halved plums with their cut sides facing up, and gently press them into the batter using your fingers.
- Mix together the topping ingredients: sugar, cardamom, and cinnamon, then sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the cake.
- Put the cake in the oven and bake for around 50 minutes to an hour, or until it becomes a golden brown color and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack for a minimum of 30 minutes before cutting.
- Enjoy it either warm or at room temperature. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the cake overnight for a different experience; serving it cold is equally enjoyable.
Notes
- Plums - You'll need about a pound of ripe, firm plums without pits. To make it rustic, tear them apart; for a fancier touch, slice them evenly. Choose ripe and fragrant plums that yield slightly when pressed gently.
- Taste - A classic vanilla cake that's sweet and spiced with the comforting warmth of cinnamon and cardamom. Paired with the tartness of plums, each moist and soft bite offers a burst of juicy tanginess. Delicious! In the original famous cake, there's no cardamom but I like the addition of it and how it enhances the cake. Feel free to leave it out and just use cinnamon alone.
- Baking times can differ a bit depending on your oven. Juicy fruit can also affect cooking time.
- To Store - Keep this plum cake in an airtight container with a dome lid or cake box for up to 3 days once it's cooled. If you want it to last even longer, store it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe slightly adapted from Coley Cooks.
Delicious moist fruity plum cake - perfect for special occasions!