I’ve been saving this plum cake recipe for just the right time.ย I put my finger up to the breeze this morning and we’re here – we’ve reached peak In Between.
In Between is that time between summer and fall when I, for one, am changing out my scented candles from fresh and floral and pie and spice. This is when we as a people wrestle with our love of pumpkin spice everything. The reality is that it’s still a thick 90 degrees this week never nenveryoumind about the actual temperature. The calendar say’s it’s time to bake and so we will.
The official dessert of the In Between is this tender pound cake baked with the last of summer’s plums and swirled with tart lemon curd. It is the perfect snacking cake but also impressive enough to flex at a dinner party.ย Speaking of – it’s totally dinner party season, isn’t it?
Let’s get together! Over cake, of course.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this fresh plum cake recipe:
โขย all-purpose flour
โขย baking soda and baking powder
โขย ground coriander (or cinnamon or fresh nutmeg if you don’t have coriander)
โขย kosher salt
โขย unsalted butter
โขย granulated sugar
โขย 2 large eggs
โขย vanilla extract
โขย sour cream
โขย ripe purple plums though a case can be made for fresh apricots or fresh peaches, quartered
โขย store-bought lemon curd (or lemon juice and lemon zest in a pinch)
โขย lightly sweetened soft whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for topping
We’ll start by whisking together the flour mixture. I know this feels like an extra step and *shrug*, do we really have to? Well, no – but sifting together the dry ingredients is a good idea because it evenly combines the leavening, spice, and salt with the flour before they’re added to the wet ingredients.ย The more evenly combined the more evenly our cake will bake.ย Baking is just a series of good ideas starting here.
We add coriander to this recipe much like the Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins I made a few weeks back in the deep heat of summer.ย Coriander adds such a bright warmth to cakes with fruit. It’s brighter and less expected than cinnamon or nutmeg though either of the two will do in a pinch.
In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer (this is my favorite), cream together room temperatureย butter with sugar until pale and fluffy.ย We’re incorporating ingredients, yes – but we’re also aerating the fat in this cake to encourage a light and tender crumb.
Beat the eggs in, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition.ย More air. Fluffier cake.
The star of this cake crumb – the secret weapon, the hero: SOUR CREAM.
Sour cream (or full fat yogurt) makes for the most tender cake with a light tang on the palette.ย While most layer cakes call for either whole milk or buttermilk, sour cream will make a pound-style cake tender with a bit of gravitas.
The batter will be fluffy and thick – nowhere near pourable that’s right!
The batter is lightly scented with coriander which will highlight the plum and lemon curd but if you don’t have lemon curd on hand, you can add lemon zest and a few tablespoons of lemon juice to the cake batter to add a hit of that lovely lemon flavor.
What’s a plum cake recipe without a few late summer plums? I love yellow-fleshed plums with deep purple skin though Italian prune plums are also lovely (and smaller so you’ll have more plum per cake slice).ย Whatever fresh plums you choose, allow the plums to ripen, slice in half, twist and remove the pit.
Full disclosure: I’ve been impatient and made this cake with barely ripe, mostly very firm plums and the bake time is enough to soften a stone-like stone fruit.
Of all your cake pans, I recommend using a springform pan for this cake.ย The removable sides keep us from having to invert the cake to remove it from the pan.ย If you don’t have a springform in your collection, a tall-sided 9-inch cake pan will do ya just fine.
Grease the cake pan, spread half of the cake batter across the bottom of the pan and arrange the pitted plums, cut side down in a circular pattern.
Spread the remaining batter over the plums – an offset spatula is great for this task.ย I like to leave a little plum skin peeking through.ย Dollop the top of the cake generously with lemon curd (so good, it’s so good!) and swirl into the cake batter.
With a little time in the oven, the lemon curd will bake to a golden chewy texture.ย It’s magic.ย This cake is a long bake so settle in. ย It will bake for nearly an hour. I rotate the cake pan to brown all sides about halfway through baking.
The cake is baked when the top is deeply golden, the cake is risen, and maybe the edges are bubbling.ย A cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.ย It may be a little challenging to find the cooked crumb amidst the plums and curd but keep a keen eye around the 55 to 60 minute mark.
Allow the cake to cook for an hour, it really does need to settle to slice cleanly.ย Use a straight sharp knife, a serrated knife will tear the crumb needlessly.
I love this cake served with a dollop of whipped cream or a big scoop of vanilla ice cream but a cup of black coffee is also a great choice.
Instructions follow and feel free to leave your baking questions or comments below! You can also connect with me on Facebook and Pinterest! I’m baking everywhere.
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September Summer Fresh Plum and Lemon Curd Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch cake 1x
- Category: dessert, holiday
- Method: baking
Description
A tender pound cake with sweet soft plums and swirls of jammy lemon curd.ย A perfect between season cake bake.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (optional)
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
- 5–6 small to medium firm but ripe purple plumes, halved and pitted
- About 1/2 cup store-bought lemon curd
- Lightly sweetened soft whipped cream for serving
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round ย baking pan (or springform pan), line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and grease the parchment paper as well. Lightly flour the pan and knock any extra flour from the pan.
- In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, coriander if using, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with electric hand beaters or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute per egg. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is mixed in well. Beat in the sour cream on medium speed.
- Turn the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Stop the mixer and finish incorporating the batter until well combined. The batter will be thick.
- Spread half of the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan. An offset spatula is a great tool to spread the batter. Arrange 10 to 12 plum halves, cut side down, on top of the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the plums and use the offset spatula to spread into an even layer. Dollop with big globs of lemon curd and swirl just slightly.
- Bake until deeply golden and the sides of the cake are pulling away from the pan. A toothpick inserted in the cake will come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. This is a long bake cake at 50-55 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. Remove cake from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes before trying to invert the cake.
- Run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. Place a flat plate over the pan and invert the cake. Peel the parchment round off the cake and gently invert the cake top side up.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with lightly sweetened cream and black coffee or tea. Cake lasts, wrapped in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.
27 Responses
Good morning. I would like to double the batch on this recipe. Can I do so baking in a 9 x 13 pan?
I made this and it turned out so good! I’m not a huge fan of plums, but I have a plum tree, so I’m always on the search for a good recipe with plums and this worked great! I thought that the plums were not as tart as they have been in some other dishes I’ve tried. I will definitely keep it in my rotation for the end of summer when I have an abundance of plums.
This is probably the most delicious cake ever! I loved the big chunks of plums and the lemon curd made an amazing brulee. It’s not overly sweet which is nice. I made it with a gluten free flour blend and homemade lemon curd.
Absolutely outstanding!
Rave reviews from everyone!
This is a lovely recipe. I followed as written, using a springform pan. It turned out wonderful. Will be making again.
I forgot to leave a rating. Definitely 5 stars and will be at every picnic and dinner party. It is so easy to make.
This is the most amazing cake. The texture of the the cake was so light, soft and tender. My partner is a sugar, sweets and cake addict. He loved it. We live in Mexico. Because of the drought this year stone fruits are very expensive and not the best favor right now. I opted for placing raspberry jam as the middle layer along with a toasted sliced almonds. It was amazing. I added the lemon curd to the top as stated in the recipe but again sprinked on a few thinly sliced almonds both crunch and appearance. It was a huge success. I can’t wait to make it again.
As a 13 year old chef it was really easy and my family loved it so much!! I loved how it all went together!!
Wow! This turned out soo amazing! I used peaches instead and it really is the perfect summer recipe.
When hosting a dinner party I have a habit of baking a cake that i have never made before. No stress what so ever. I made this plum cake with homemade lemon curd and it was a success. My niece has already requested I make it for her birthday! Definitely will be making this cake every summer!
I’m making this cake for the 2nd time tonight. I’m not an experienced baker, but the recipe is easy to follow and the result…. delicious!
Iโve developed a tradition of making myself a different cake every year for my birthday. This recipe dropped just in time for me to try it out for this yearโs birthday cake. I made it that night.
โฆand my parents devoured it in less than 2 days.
Iโve had to make it 3 more times since.
Mysterious bags of plums keep appearing when Iโm here (thanks Dad). Mom keeps casually asking when Iโll be coming to visit.
I made another cake this evening, and itโs already 2/3 gone. Dad told me to just start making two at a time from now on. I think theyโll start resorting to sabotage and/or kidnapping soon. Please send help.
(Also, trying to find a way to turn this into cupcakes. The plums are obviously a sticking point, because they need time to cook down and realize their gloriously jammy potential, and I donโt think thatโll happen on a cupcake timeframe. Iโm thinking maybe a plum filling of some sort?)
Very nice recipe
Tried this with actual autumn plums (the blue ones), gingerbread spice and lemon zest instead of the curd (thanks for suggesting that). Is absolutely wonderful and has a great consistency. Thanks a million!
I am so bummed. I just made this – even made homemade lemon curd the other day because my store was out of stock. As I’m putting everything in the pan I can’t believe how little batter there is but I keep going. I somehow failed to remember to add the sour cream in (which was in a bowl on the side). The cake is in the oven – without sour cream – and we’re just gonna roll with it because…it was too late. I’ll have to try again…maybe with the nectarines in my bowl.
So…no sourcream but it was still delish!!
Made this today (last day of summer) and canโt wait to have a piece (itโs currently cooling). Plums are hard to get this time of year where I live – do you think I could sub apple slices and cinnamon for a more โfallโ cake?
This was really good. I didn’t have quite ripe plums, but it was my first time cooking with plums, and I didn’t quite know how to judge it. The fruit stayed fairly whole (less jammy), but served warm, it was still tasty. I think the lemon curd gets lost in the flavors, so I will probably increase the amount of lemon curd next time. I also found that my oven didn’t require as much cook time. I loved the cake flavor though. I’m not a big cake fan, so this batter that edges into pastry territory was just perfect with the fruit flavors. I also chose not to use coriander or another spcie.
I had the same experience with the bake time. In my oven the cake was done after 45 minutes with the edges of the lemon curd swirls turning quite dark.
Does this plum cake freeze as well as the NYTimes version? Iโm blessed with a plum tree so I try to bake them up and stock my freezer for the winter
Can this cake be frozen?
Joy! You’ve done it again!! I subbed the coriander for cardamom and it was everything. The plums cooked down to be nice and jammy, and the lemon curd was the perfect compliment.
Oh that sounds fantastic!
great, plums are nice, don’t think I’ve had a plum cake but have always loved plums so, I’m in on that alone, but even more so with lemon curd, love lemon everything, so thank you!
Hi! Do you think this one will work with a gluten free flourโฆ?!
I made this cake this morning with Bobs Red Mill 1-1 and it was amazing. Truly the best plum cake I have ever had!
Yes! I used Trader Joeโs 1:1 gluten-free flour and the cake was delicious.
Hi Joy,
In your ingredient list, you have written 10-12 plums. However, you are only using 10-12 halves in the batter. Might there be an error and you mean 5-6 whole plums?
Thanks.