Late Summer Plum Cake
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Gently spiced, this jammy plum cake celebrates the summer-into-fall season. Serve it for brunch or dessert.
Taking a cue from Martha Stewart’s fresh strawberry cake (a favorite on this site), this plum cake is the perfect dessert for late summer when plums are at their prime. Tucked into the batter, the fruit bakes into rich, jammy pockets, while warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom add a hint of cozy fall flavors. Enjoy this dessert any time of day—plain and simple with a cup of coffee, or topped with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
“A wonderful cake! The spices really make it stand out and the plums cut through to make the whole thing sing!”
What you’ll need to make Plum Cake
- Flour, baking powder, and salt – Your dry base to give the cake structure.
- Warm spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom) – Just enough to give the cake a cozy, fall-like flavor.
- Butter and sugar – Creamed together until light and fluffy for that tender crumb. A little sugar is also sprinkled over the top so the cake gets a caramelized finish.
- Egg and vanilla – Bind the batter and add depth of flavor.
- Milk – Any kind you have on hand works here; low-fat is fine.
- Plums – Ripe but firm, pitted and quartered so they bake into jammy little pockets.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Combine the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt together. Set the mixture aside.
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the butter and 1 cup of the sugar until pale and fluffy—it should take a few minutes.
Step 3: Add the egg and vanilla. Beat on low speed until evenly combined.
Step 4: Add the dry ingredients and milk. Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat on low speed until smooth.
Step 5: Transfer the batter to the pan. Scrape the batter into a greased springform pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. As you can see, the batter is quite thick.
Step 6: Top with plums. Arrange the sliced plums on top of the batter, skin side up, in a circular pattern so that they cover most of the cake. Then sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the plums.
Step 7: Bake. Bake the cake for 60 to 70 minutes, until golden on top and set in the center.
Step 8: Cool and serve. Once the cake comes out of the oven, run a knife around the edges and release the springform side (leave the base in place). Let it cool completely on a rack, then slice and enjoy.
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Late Summer Plum Cake
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk (any kind)
- 1 lb plums, pitted and quartered
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a 9-in (23-cm) springform pan. (Alternatively, the cake may be made in a 9-in/23-cm cake pan or pie pan and served directly from the pan.)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or beaters, cream the butter and 1 cup (200 g) of the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat on low speed until smooth. (Note: the batter will be quite thick.)
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Arrange the plums on top, skin side up, in a circular pattern so that they mostly cover the batter. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar over the plums.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until golden on top and set in the center.
- When the cake is hot out of the oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan and then remove the springform edge, leaving the base in place (if using a springform pan). Let the cake cool on a rack completely. Slice and serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired. The cake keeps well, loosely covered at room temperature, for several days.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I have made this cake for years. I substitute 1/4 cup of cornmeal for 1/4 cup of flour. Cornmeal and plums are incredible together.
Any thoughts on turning this into muffins?
Hi Sara, I think you could use this recipe for muffins, but I’d dice instead of slice them. You could also use this recipe and replace the blueberries with plums.
Sounds great. Can you publish a gluten-free version? Perhaps made with ground almonds. Thanks!
Hi Loren, I’m not in the practice of baking with almond flour, but I think this would work nicely with an all-purpose gluten-free flour. A number of readers have commented that they have good luck with King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten-free flour and Cup4Cup gluten-free flour. Hope you enjoy if you try it!
I have had phases in my gluten free journey from autoimmune paleo, to paleo, to now just gluten and mostly lactose free. Almond meal / flour GREATLY changes the crumb of baked goods and doesn’t allow for the same absorption of wet ingredients in the batter that flours do. For GF flour, this absorption takes longer and bakers should allow extra sitting time of a batter for the absorption to occur. This helps the crumb in the final product. Almond flour would definitely not work in the recipe and get even close to the final product. I did use King Arthur’s all purpose gluten free flour as a sub and Fairlife 2%milk with fantastic results, though!
Hi Jenn,
This was so delicious! I want to make it again but plums are now out of season here in Australia…would this work with pears? How would you adjust the sugar?
Hi Jahnavi, So glad you like it! I haven’t tried it, but a few other readers have mentioned they’ve used pears successfully. (I’d make sure to use pears that are good for baking like Bosc or Anjou.) I’d love to hear how it turns out if you try it!
I was a bit dubious to be honest but when it was baked, it was the BEST. We all loved it (with vanilla ice cream, of course)! I compared it to another similar recipe and this recipe is more moist as it has the half cup of milk. Have currently got another cake to n the oven with apricots, so looking forward to it. Thanks!
I baked this once and it was lovely. Second time it was hard and sugary and very moist inside. It wasn’t very nice. What did I do wrong that time please?
Hi Denise, Sorry this didn’t work out! If you had success with the cake the first time around, I suspect you must’ve made a measuring error this time. You mentioned it was sugary and moist; might you have inadvertently added too much sugar? Sugar not only makes things sweet, but also adds moisture to things (as it dissolves) so that would be my guess. Please LMK if I can help in any other way.
This cake is delicious!!❤️
I made this recipe earlier this month, just to see if it would be popular. Today I am making it again, doubling the recipe, because it proved so popular that it lasted a day. Everyone loved it and I was asked to make it again in place of our traditional Christmas cake. Definitely a recipe I would and will recommend.
I’ve made this recipe multiple times. It’s easy and super delicious; my wife said it’s the best thing she ever tasted! I just made it by hand in my daughter’s kitchen which presented the challenge of an unfamiliar kitchen. It turned out great! It smells terrific!
Looks fantastic! Is it freezable?
Yep, it freezes nicely!
Delicious! Loved it! Quick and easy to make and so yummy. I loved how the plums sank down and you couldn’t see them. Thank you for this recipe 🙂