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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Hi Jenn,
Do you think this could work with tinned plums/peaches? They’re so out of season at the moment!
Thanks for your help 😊
Sure, Rosemary, I think that would work. Just make sure to drain them first — hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hi Jenn,
I love your recipes. Can I exchange the plums for mango?
Thanks
Sure, Jessica, I think that should work. Please LMK how it turns out!
DF GF version
Our cherry plums have just appeared in abundance, and I came across this recipe!
I just made this cake with gluten free flour, and coconut oil instead of butter. I also halved the sugar amount.
It came out AMAZING! An absolute winner! So if you’re dairy free and/or gluten free, go for it!
Question for Claire:
I made my cake with coconut milk instead of dairy milk. It came out pale, never got the right color. Was your non dairy cake pale? Mine was cooked through, just pale. I wonder if replacing the dairy affects color.
Hey Jen
I have the plum segments individually frozen in a freezer bag so I can make the cake for Thanksgiving this year. Would you suggest I thaw them first or just put them in frozen before baking the cake?
Hi Lisa, I think you can just add them frozen. I’d love to hear how it turns out with the frozen plums!
Jenn!
Made the cake for Thanksgiving using frozen plums from late August/September.
Came out just as delicious as it did in late summer of this year!
Thank you for another easy, satisfying and delightful dessert!
So glad it was just as good with the frozen plums! Thanks for the follow-up — I’m sure other readers will appreciate it as well. 🙂
I added mine frozen but coated them with a bit of the flour mixture before putting them in. I had trouble in the past with them sinking to the bottom, staying there and making the bottom soggy. So this time i cut into smaller chunks, dredged with the flour mixture and then laid them on top pressing in just a bit. Served it to my staff this morning and it turned out great!
@Jenn segal, thank you for this recipe! I made this cake last night, I loved the spice flavored cake. But 1 problem I had was with the plums. They turned out very sour upon baking. They were sweet when I tasted before the bake. Do you have an idea why this might have happened? Appreciate your input please. Thanks!
Hi Anusha, Plums definitely turn more sour upon baking but the sugar in the cake should balance everything out. Did you by chance reduce the sugar?
Hello Jenn,
I’ve made your French Apple Cake multiple times and love it! And then a couple of days ago I made the Plum Cake because I’ve always wanted to make one!! It was divine, but I thought it would moisten the cake part a bit if I added some plums in the middle section. That’s what I’ve done and I also reduced the amount of flour (to just over a cup), but maybe I shouldn’t have because it’s now very moist (and delicious, of course) in the centre. Any advice? Plums, of course, have a lot more juice escaping from them than apples do, and your recipe for the grape cake calls for the grapes not to be cut, so I took a bit of a chance, I know. I will bow to your expert advice!! And you can privately email me back if you don’t think this is helpful for others, of course. I’d send you a picture, but I don’t Instagram.
Thank you Jenn.
Joy
Hi Joy, unfortunately, I don’t think there’s any way to salvage this – sorry!
Delicious! Pretty and enjoyed by all. I used prune plums and I would add even more plums next time.
Wonderful! I’ve made it twice this week! I recently started using whole nutmeg (and grating it myself) and what a difference that makes. I never liked using nutmeg before, but now love it. Thanks for the recipe, it’s a keeper!
I made this plum cake three days ahead, cooled it and wrapped it in tin foil and froze it. Last night I served it to company and it was divine. Rave reviews! Thanks for all your great recipes.
P.S. Also made Israeli salad. Very refreshing for a hot night.
Wonderful cake, even though my plums were much too ripe! They were so overripe they were very difficult to slice, the pulp didn’t stay with the skin, and the juices ran out BUT it still made a delicious cake! I did my best to arrange the plums but had to resort to plopping the squished up pulp on and sprinkling the juice on top. Not ideal, but very good. Sweet, but still tart. Served with whipped cream. A huge hit! Will be using in years to come but will make sure plums aren’t mushy.
Hi, another fan from SW France (Dordogne region). On our walk the other day, we encountered tiny purple plums literally falling off the tree onto the public path. Tasted a couple, and they were divine, so next day we brought a bag and picked up all the good ones from the path. A kilo of fresh plums to divide between us. I Googled plum cakes and came up with your recipe. It’s in the oven now–fingers crossed! The flour over here is softer, the butter has more butterfat, and the eggs are richer. (My chocolate chip cookies fell flat.) The dough wasn’t quite so stiff as in your pictures, but I have soldiered on, and we shall see. But however it comes out, I know my husband will love it.
Oh, and thanks for adding the grams version of the recipe. That is so helpful to those of us who prefer to weigh out ingredients.
Hope it turns out great Cyndy! 🙂