Austrian Plum Cake Recipes

AUSTRIAN PLUM CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Set your baking rack on the middle shelf in the oven. Prepare a springform pan for your cake by lightly spraying it with an oil spray and then dusting the pan with flour (tapping off the excess).
• Combine the dry ingredients (flour, 1/2 C. sugar, baking powder, salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix briefly. Keep your mixer running and add the butter one piece at a time. Continue to mix the ingredients until the flour takes on the consistency of moist sand. This will take 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and egg yolk to the flour. Add the vanilla. Beat this mixture at medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy. This will take about 1 minute. You can scrape down the sides of the bowl as you are doing this to be sure that you are incorporating all the ingredients.
• Spread the batter across the bottom of your prepared springform pan using an offset spatula. Then, arrange the sliced plums in concentric circles across the top of the batter. The cut sides of the plums should face up. Sprinkle the remaining 2 T. sugar on top of the cake and put the cake into the oven to bake. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. The original recipe called for baking the cake about 1 to 1 1/4 hours but my cake was perfectly done after one hour. Remove the baked cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes, after which you can remove the sides of the springform pan.
• Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

VIENNESE PLUM CAKE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well., Transfer to a greased 9-in. square baking dish. Top with plums. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over plums., For topping, in a small bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in walnuts if desired. Sprinkle over top., Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until topping is golden brown and plums are tender. Cool on a wire rack.

PLUM CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-by-2-inch or a 9-inch cake pan and line bottom with a round of parchment. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated; beat in vanilla and lemon zest. Beat in half the flour mixture, then sour cream. Add remaining flour mixture; mix just until combined.
• Spread batter into pan and smooth top with a knife. In a bowl, toss plums with 2 tablespoons flour and sprinkle over batter.
• Bake until cake is golden, about 30 minutes; loosely tent with foil and bake until cake pulls away from side of pan and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes more. Let cake cool completely in pan. Run knife around cake edge and remove cake from pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

ZWETSCHGENKUCHEN (BAVARIAN PLUM CAKE)

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the yeast and half of the milk. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the flour and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Allow this mixture to sit in a warm place for 1 hour.
• Combine remaining dough ingredients then add in the yeast mixture. Mix until a smooth dough forms, then knead by hand. Allow dough to sit in a warm place until double in volume.
• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
• Grease a baking sheet. Roll out dough to fit the size of the baking sheet. Transfer dough to baking sheet.
• Wash plums and remove any stems. Slice each in half and remove stones. Arrange plum halves evenly on the dough - plums should not be lying down, instead they should be standing stem-side up. Sprinkle plums with sugar.
• Crumbs are optional. If you choose to add them, prepare the crumbs by mixing the butter, vanilla sugar, and sugar. Gradually work in flour until mixture becomes dry and crumbly. Sprinkle crumbs over dough, distributing them evenly.
• Allow cake to sit and rise for another 30 minutes.
• Bake cake for around 30-40 minutes or until crumbs and crust become golden brown.
• Remove cake from oven and allow to cool completely.
• Serve at room temperature, with a dollop of whipped cream.

VIENNESE PLUM CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease Two 8-inch Round Pans with Butter.
• Choose plums that are more blue in color than red, and are soft but not mushy. Cut the plums in half lengthwise, along the 'seam', removing the stone. If there's any fiber or remnants of a stem, trim the tip of the stem end with a paring knife. Set plum halves aside.
• Mix two teaspoons of cinnamon with the half-cup of sugar and set aside.
• In mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
• Add eggs, mixing until well blended.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Add half of the flour mixture into the creamed butter, stirring just until smooth; then add the remaining dry ingredients, again being careful not to over-mix. Batter will be stiff.
• Divide batter evenly into greased cake pans, spreading to fill pan to the sides.
• Press plum halves into the top of the batter, cut side up, arranging them in tight rows. You should see very little cake batter. My mother always said ".
• load 'em up!".
• Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly and generously over the top of each cake.
• Bake in 350-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
• Cool completely.
• While my mother would pooh-pooh it, you can serve with whipped cream. Enjoy!