Delicious Plum Yeast Cake Recipe That Will Blow You Away

Easy fruit cake recipe that will surprise you with its taste and texture.

This is my favorite yeast cake recipe since I like plums so much and the fact that they keep the cake moist for couple of days. I use this easy fruit cake recipe pretty often during plum season and in winter since I freeze plenty of plums.

The plums I use for this plum cake recipe are called in Latin prunus domestica, subsp domestica, in German Zwetschge. They are sweet sour, have a deep blue-purple color, and oval shape. If you don’t have access to this type of plums, try the Damson or Damask Plums.

You can place the plums in two ways: one next to each other, or on top of each other (like tiled roof), placing them in straight rows. If you place them next to each other, the cake will be less sour since you will end up using fewer plums.

If you chose to use the second method the cake will be correspondingly sourer. I place the plums on top of each other since I find that the cake tastes better and is moister in the end.

If you choose to place the plums on top each other, then you might need to bake it a little longer since the juice from the plums will flow directly into the dough.

Keep checking in 5 minutes intervals. If the edges turn brow you should lower the temperature by 10 degrees. I hope that you will enjoy this easy plum cake recipe.

Plum Yeast Cake Recipe

For the cake batter:
• 500 g flour (3 1/3 cup)
• 250 ml milk (1 cup)
• 150 g sugar (3/4 cup)
• 100 g butter (3.5 oz)
• 4 egg yolks
• 40 g live yeast (compressed yeast) (1.4 oz)
• 1 spoon of vanilla sugar
• 1 kg plums (2.2 lb)
• Pinch of salt
• Powdered sugar to sprinkle the cake

Prepare the yeast batter:
• Using a spoon, mix the compressed yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
• Add warm milk and 150 g of flour(1 cup).*
• Mix well, cover with a clean cloth and let it grow in a WARM place (the temperature will speed up the growth process). This will take anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes.

In the meantime:
• Beat the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar so that the color of the mixture is bright yellow.
• When the yeast mixture has doubled its volume, add the beat egg yolks, flour, vanilla sugar, a pinch of salt, and knead to smooth dough. Use the hook attachment on your electric mixer. This is easier when you have a table top mixer like “KitchenAid.”
• When you see air bubbles in the dough, slowly add melted butter.
• Mix for 10 to 15 minutes longer. The longer one mixes a yeast cake, the fluffier it will be in the end.
• Move the dough to a greased and floured rectangular form filling to half height of the form. Let it grow for 1 hour. If you like, you can leave the dough in the mixing bowl, let it double its volume in it, and then move it to the form. Make sure to cover the form or the mixing bowl with a clean cloth. I let it grow in the mixing bowl. It is easier for me to do it that way.

*You can simplify this process by heating the milk in a larger measuring jug in a microwave. When the milk is warm, dissolve the yeast in it, add sugar and flour and mix well. Let it double its volume in the measuring jug. This way you are saving on cleaning pots.

As the cake grows:
• Wash the plums, half them and stone them.
• Preheat the oven at 170°C – 340°F
• Once the batter has doubled its volume, spread the dough onto a greased and floured rectangular pan (around 15 x 13 inches) and place the plum halves, skin down onto the batter. If you like, you can place the plums on top of each other (like tiled roof).
• Bake around 30 minutes at 170°C (340°F). If you place the plums on top of each other then the baking time might be longer. Check every 5 minutes or so after the initial 30 minutes has passed for doneness.
• Sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar when still hot.

This Plum Yeast Cake comes from “Najlepsze przepisy kuchni polskiej” by Marek Lebkowski.