I wanted a traditional German Pflaumenkuchen recipe for the OH’s birthday last week when we had people coming to supper, and came across this one from ‘Sunday Hotpants’, complete with its own charming tale. It’s come via New Zealand, so it’s a well-travelled cake! I won’t repeat the recipe here, as I pretty much followed it for once! It worked well, and here are a few tips and comments.
I made 2 round cakes, as my largest tin was an 8-inch springform, so I used that and a small loose-bottomed tin, and there was ample cake mix for both. The cake freezes well, so make the full amount and freeze any surplus to immediate requirement.
I made the large cake with a cinnamon-only topping as I know some of our guests aren’t keen on cardamom, and the small for us with cinnamon and a good hit of cardamom; both tasted good, though you could be a bit more generous with the spicing.
The base is quite a dry cake mix, do press it out as evenly as you can, and cram as many plums on there as you can humanly squeeze in! However, if the tin is quite full, place a baking tray beneath to catch any drips of gooey plummy juice!
The crumble looked a bit fine when I added the topping so I sprinkled a few drops of water on to help ‘clump’ up the crumb.
It’s at its most indulgently enjoyable served warm, though also fine cold, and goes well with a little dollop of crème fraîche, or even more sybaritic, a scoop of Just Rachel’s damson and sloe gin ice cream. Just don’t ask about calories.
Random Thoughts 