Plum Coffee Cake

Looking for a traditional Czech plum cake recipe? This easy plum coffee cake is made with ripe fresh plums, a soft buttery batter, and a cinnamon streusel topping. A classic Czech dessert for late summer.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Czech

Keyword Plum Coffee Cake, Streusel Sheet Cake

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings pieces

Calories 315kcal

Author Petra Kupská

Ingredients

For the plums

1 ½ pounds Italian plums washed, pitted, quartered, and patted dry
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour for dusting the plums

For the streusel

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cake batter

4 eggs at room temperature
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon zest freshly grated, yellow layer only
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup heavy cream 36–40 % fat, at room temperature
⅓ cup milk at room temperature

For serving

powdered sugar optional, for dusting

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Take the eggs, butter, heavy cream, and milk out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes ahead.
Preheat the oven to 340 °F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Make the streusel: In a bowl, put 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces, add ⅔ cup all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup granulated sugar, and ⅓ teaspoon ground cinnamon Rub everything into moist crumbs. Chill in the refrigerator until needed.
Beat 4 eggs with 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar on high speed until pale, thick, and fluffy, about 5 minutes, then beat in 1 Tablespoon lemon zest.
Sift 3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt together. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the beaten eggs in batches, alternating with ¾ cup heavy cream and ⅓ cup milk, mixing only until combined.
Pour the batter into the pan and spread it into the corners.
Dust the prepared 1 ½ pounds Italian plums with 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour and toss gently. Arrange them, ideally cut side up, close together over the batter; slight overlaps are fine. Sprinkle the streusel evenly on top.
Bake for about 50 minutes, until the streusel is golden. Test with a skewer pushed between the plums, not through fruit; if batter clings to it, bake a few minutes longer.
Let the cake cool in the pan, dust with powdered sugar if you like, and cut into 15 squares (3 rows by 5). If you like a more sweet dessert, dust the cake with a little of powdered sugar.

Notes

Oven: temperatures are for a conventional oven; for convection, lower the temperature by 25°F.
Pan: the recipe as written fits a 9x13 inch (23x33 cm) pan.
Frozen or canned plums: add frozen plums straight from the freezer with a light dusting of flour; drain canned plums very well and skip the flour.

Nutrition