Pflaumen Streuselkuchen! This is a traditional German cake, with a butter cake base, a layer of juicy plum slices, and a lovely thick layer of buttery crunchy streusel crumble. It's perfect for dessert, afternoon tea, a Kaffeeklatsch, or general snacking. Simple, sweet, and delicious, it's hard to stop at one slice!
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| Pflaumen Streuselkuchen |
I was recently sent a (five kilo!) sample of Queen Garnet plums, a new variety of specialty plums that are sweet and juicy, with a really deep red colour. The press release the PR folks sent was full of facts about the health benefits of the plum ("seven times the antioxidants found in other commercial plum varieties"), but you all know me, all I could think was how best to cook these up into delicious desserts!
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| Queen Garnet Plums |
My first thought was, of course, a German plum cake, or Pflaumenkuchen. I've previously blogged a version with a yeasted base covered in plum slices (and see the recipe here!), but this time I wanted something a bit more cakey and sweet, and definitely topped with lots of crunchy delicious Streusel. So: Pflaumen Streuselkuchen.
The base of this Pflaumen Streuselkuchen is a plain Rührteig (literally a "stirred dough"), which is essentially a butter cake base. It's similar to a Victoria sponge, but with slightly different proportions. I've also found that for butter cake bases, the all-in-one method works really well. (This is a tip I learned from Mary Berry, and I use it all the time now). Rather than creaming the butter and sugar, then adding eggs one by one followed by the dry ingredients, you just place everything into the bowl of an electric and beat for a few minutes until combined, light and fluffy. You do need to make sure the butter is properly soft, but other than that it's easy and effective.
The base of this Pflaumen Streuselkuchen is a plain Rührteig (literally a "stirred dough"), which is essentially a butter cake base. It's similar to a Victoria sponge, but with slightly different proportions. I've also found that for butter cake bases, the all-in-one method works really well. (This is a tip I learned from Mary Berry, and I use it all the time now). Rather than creaming the butter and sugar, then adding eggs one by one followed by the dry ingredients, you just place everything into the bowl of an electric and beat for a few minutes until combined, light and fluffy. You do need to make sure the butter is properly soft, but other than that it's easy and effective.
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| Rührteig |
And then I covered the base in plum slices! I love how deep red the Queen Garnet plums were.
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| Plums |
And finally, a nice thick layer of Streusel (crumble). German Streusel is just butter, flour and sugar (with a little vanilla), mixed together until crumbly - no rubbing butter into flour by hand, as per a British crumble. To save on the washing up, I made the Streusel first, then scraped it out of the mixer, and then made the cake base in the same mixer. (No need to wash in between).
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| Streusel |
And here it is, baked! The Streusel does brown quite quickly, so check halfway through the baking time and cover with foil if it's getting too brown and the cake underneath needs more time to cook.
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| Baked! |
I love the thick layer of Streusel on top!
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| Pflaumen Streuselkuchen |
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| Pflaumen Streuselkuchen |
Another Streusel shot because, ugh, so good.
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| Pflaumen Streuselkuchen |
The cake was so good! I ate quite a few slices, and shared some with colleagues too. They loved it, and one immediately demanded the recipe too, yay! Crunchy buttery goodness against the tangy plums - how delicious! It was best fresh, but was still good a few days later. The only constructive feedback I got was from my German wife, who said it needed more plums. (This feeds into my theory that Germans don't actually like the "cake" part of cake, and are all about the fruit and whipped cream, hehe). You'll also note that the Rührteig base rose quite a bit (even though I use less baking powder than a traditional Rührteig), and it's quite sturdy, so it could definitely handle more plums. I used a twenty-three centimetre tin, but in the recipe below I suggest using a twenty-five centimetre tin, so you can have a slightly thinner base and also fit more plums in.
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| Pflaumen Streuselkuchen |
Do make this cake! It's so easy and so good! Those fancy Queen Garnet plums are in season in March, and are available at Woolworths nationally, some Coles on the east coast and some speciality retailers. But if you can't find them, don't let that stop you, any ripe sweet plums you can get your hands on will be delicious! A nice Stück of Pflaumen Streuselkuchen and a big Tasse of Kaffee and your weekend afternoon is set.
Pflaumen StreuselkuchenA recipe by Sarah CooksIngredientsFor the Streusel150 grams plain flour75 grams sugar1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract100 grams unsalted buter, softenedFor the Kuchen125 grams unsalted butter, softened100 grams sugar1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 pinch salt3 eggs250 grams plain flour2 teaspoons baking powder2 tablespoons milkFor the Pflaumen3-5 large ripe plumsMethodPreheat the oven to 180C. Line the base and sides of a 23 or 25cm springform tin with baking paper.To make the Streusel, place the plain flour, sugar, vanilla extract, and softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on low speed until the dough comes together in sandy clumps. Tip the streusel mixture into a separate bowl and set aside. Scrape the mixing bowl and the beater as best you can, but there's no need to wash it before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.To make the Kuchen, place all ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer, and beat on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, or until smoothly combined, light and fluffy. Spread the batter evenly in the base of the prepared tin. (It will be quite thin).Wash the plums, cut in half around the equator and twist to separate the two halves. Remove the pit and discard. Cute the two halves into thin wedges and arrange over the cake batter in the tin. Repeat until the cake batter is covered with plum slices.Pour the crumble over the plum slices.Bake for 30-50 minutes, or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. You may need to cover the cake with foil if it is browning too quickly.Allow to cool in the tin on a rack for 10-20 minutes, then unmould and allow to cool completely.Makes 1 x 25cm cake
Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog
Sarah received complimentary Queen Garnet plums from Nutrafruit but was not obliged to post or compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.
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