Plum Cake

If you have the last few pieces of summer fruit ripening in your produce bowl, I have the best easy single layer cake recipe for you. This Plum Cake has a streusel made with ginger, cornmeal, and brown sugar to make a light, crisp topping. You’re going to want to save this recipe!

Did you know that when plums hit the oven, they melt into pools of hot plum jam? Gooey little bites of concentrated sweet-tart flavor, and, depending on the plum, these bites can be magenta, red, or yellow!

I always bake with Santa Rosa plums, known for their intensely ruby interiors to make this plum cake. (If you’re not sure about the color of the inside of your plum, ask the vendor at the farmer’s market stall).

This cake is a soft, cottony vanilla cake with pools of melted plum, and a crisp crust on top. Plus, it’s made in an 8-inch pan because I love a good single layer snack cake!

I brought this little plum cake to a Christmas in July potluck party, and let’s just say it was feeling quite at home next to a homemade apple pie and Jollibee takeout that my friends brought.

Technically, this cake is a buckle! A buckle is a streusel-topped cake that contains fresh fruit. (they’re called buckles because the fruit pieces and streusel ‘buckle’ or crumble into the cake as it bakes).

Ingredients

• Brown Sugar. For the streusel topping on this plum cake, you need 6 tablespoons of brown sugar. It can be light or dark brown sugar.
• Flour. The streusel topping needs 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, while the soft vanilla cake part needs another 1.5 cups.
• Cornmeal. For a little bit of crunch, we are adding 2 tablespoons of cornmeal to the streusel. Yellow or white cornmeal both work well here.
• Ground Ginger. One-half teaspoon of ground ginger brings a subtle warmth to the topping for this plum cake. Plums and ginger are best friends!
• Salt. One pinch of salt for the topping, and 1/4 teaspoon for the cake.
• Butter. We need one whole stick (8 tablespoons/ 113 grams) of unsalted butter for this recipe. It’s okay to use butter straight from the fridge or freezer, because we’re using 1/2 of the butter cold and diced for the topping. The remaining half stick will be melted for the cake batter.
• Plums. This recipe requires 5 small plums, about 11 ounces of fresh fruit. The type of plums you use matter! I used the ruby red Santa Rosa plums for this cake when I was photographing it, but you can use regular black plums with the yellow flesh, too. Just note that the color of plum you use will change the appearance of the inside of the cake. Note: we are not peeling the plums! Plums are sweet, and their skin is tart–we want both!
• Granulated Sugar. Two-thirds of a cup of granulated sugar for the cake.
• Egg Whites. This recipe calls for 2 egg whites. Please reserve the egg yolks for another recipe, like my chocolate chip cookie cake. Or my strawberry tiramisu.
• Vanilla. One teaspoon of real vanilla extract.
• Baking Powder. One and a half teaspoons of baking powder to make it rise.
• Whole Milk. Six tablespoons of whole milk will be the liquid in the batter. Anytime you include milk in a dessert recipe, it makes a really tender. This is why you almost never see milk as an ingredient in a cookie recipe, because we like chewy, dense cookies. (The exception to this rule: lofthouse cookies and tea cakes because we want them to be soft and fluffy).

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How to Make Plum Cake with Streusel Topping

Recipe Variations

• Fruit – Please play around and use any type of summer stone fruit you have! Peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plums all pair well with ginger.
• Spices – Let’s say ginger isn’t your thing (which is too bad because it’s so good for you), you can use an equal amount of ground cinnamon in its place. Ground cardamom would be good here, too!
• Dairy – If you don’t have milk, you can use half and half to make this cake. I haven’t tried it with soy milk or almond milk, but I don’t recommend it because they have less protein than milk. (The protein structure in milk is what makes baked goods super tender and crumbly).

Make Ahead

You can make this plum cake up to one day ahead of time and store it at room temperature on the counter (tightly wrapped). The leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge, but please note that the streusel loses its crispness when it’s stored or baked ahead of time.

Print

Plum Cake

Plum cake with red ripe plums and streusel topping.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword plum cake

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 12

Calories 176kcal

Author DessertForTwo.com

Ingredients

Streusel:

• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoons cold butter diced

Plum Cake:

• 5 small plums 10-11 ounces
• 4 tablespoons butter melted
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons whole milk

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F. Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish.
• First, make the streusel: In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, flour, cornmeal, ginger, and pinch of salt. Then, with your fingertips, smear the diced butter into the mixture until it’s evenly dispersed. Set the crumbly mixture aside.
• Next, slice each plum in half, remove the pit, and slice each half into 4 slices. Chop each slice into 3-4 pieces. We’re just dicing the plums, and leaving the skins on. Set the chopped plums aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg whites, and vanilla.
• Evenly sprinkle the flour, baking powder, and salt on top, and lightly stir it in.
• Add the diced plums, continue to stir, and then add the whole milk. Stir until no streaks of flour remain, but do not overmix.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan, and evenly sprinkle the streusel mixture on top.
• Bake for 35-38 minutes, until the streusel is golden brown and a cake tester inserted comes out mostly clean. Cut into squares and serve.

Video

Notes

You can make this cake up to one day ahead of time and store it at room temperature on the counter (tightly wrapped). The leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge, but please note that the streusel loses its crispness when it’s stored or baked ahead of time.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 188mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 8g