Plum Kuchen

Pflaumenkuchen (Plum Cake) is a very popular dish among Germans. My husband loves it so I made this recipe. The dough is stiff but seems in keeping with every other German Kuchen of this sort that I have made. It still came out light and tasty so don't worry about that aspect. My only change would be the topping. First, the recipe makes WAY too much topping for the size of the cake. I only used about a 1/3 of it. Also, the topping didn't really seem to serve a purpose and just sat on top of the batter without seeming to cook or incorporate into cake. It was basically sugar flour dumped onto cake and took away from the cake itself. Since the German palette prefers less sugar anyway (and who needs the calories), I would omit the topping completely next time. That being said, the basic cake was very good.

Delicious! My German mother makes pflaumenkuchen when we can find the good, fresh Italian plums. This means about once a year, usually. I found some canned plums and decided to give this recipe a try. It worked BEAUTIFULLY! So in case you wondered, you can substitute the fresh for canned, just make sure to pat the plums as dry as you can before baking. Also, yes, the "batter" is stiff. It's not meant to be batter, it's meant to be dough that is pressed into the pan. Many German kuchen recipes are done this way because most German cakes, tarts, etc. are meant to be had with coffee so they have to be sturdy ;-) Yes, you can add sourcream to the dough to loosen it up and it tastes okay, but it's delicious (and much more authentic) to make the recipe as is. The only major change I made-aside from canned fruit-was to use vanilla sugar (vanilla zucker) instead of liquid vanilla extract. Again, simply because it's more traditional.

This was delicious. I had one minor problem with the batter being too stiff. I added a half cup+ of sour cream to make it easier to spread in the pan. I didn't have the size of pan rec., so I baked it in a tench inch spring form. I used 5 large plums cut in half (resulting in ten halves). Absolutely yummy and I will definitely make it again. Thanks for sharing!

I made this for my son's birthday as he doesn't like overly sweet cakes. I followed the recipe except that I added about 1 cup of sour cream as a lot of the reviewers said it was a bit dry. I left out the crumble topping because when my German grandmother made it it didn't have that and I didn't think it needed it. Lastly I sliced the plums into thin strips and pushed them skin side out into the batter because again that's how my grandmother did it. I think it makes a prettier presentation and it would be easier to slice. It came out fabulous. Everyone loved it. It was moist and not too sweet. I will be making it again!

My German dad used to make pflaumenkuchen, his was a little different because the plums went into the pan first, with batter on top (a true upside-down cake). I may try that next time, but in the meantime I gave this one a whirl. The batter is lovely as is. I made this once with red plums and once with prune plums, both were good. For the topping I cut the flour and sugar in half (and used brown sugar instead of white), but used the whole amount of butter and cinnamon. It made a nice thick coating on top and added a delicious dimension to this cake.

This was very good! I doubled the rescipe & added 1/2 cup of sour cream which made 2 large glass pie plates. I used plums from my dad 's trees, and they're just as good. I will definitely make this again very soon!

Needed to use up extra plums. Only thing I wasn't sure of is the batter didn't quite cover bottom of pan so I found myself stretching it to make it work. I only had 6 large plums but it was enough. For topping, I traded off 1/2 the white sugar for brown sugar, and used 1/4 t. cardamom and1/4 tsp. cinnamon. It was very delicious all in all.

Yummy! I used butter instead of margarine. I had sour cream, so I added it. I turned on the broiler for 4 minutes at the end and the topping became quite crisp - like the top on cream Brule. Very easy to make, delicious, and really pretty.

I made it twice already. Very delicious. It was better the second time. I agree with the other comments, the dough is very stiff. And after baking kind of dried. I'll try with the sour cream next time.

This was so much like my mother's apple kuchen. I only used half the topping so it wasn't too sweet and overpowering the Italian plums. I didn't take it out early enough so the edges were more done then I like. Go by how the edges look not the middle. The plums make it look wet and undone when it is cooked through.

delicious! loved by all, batter is stiff I'll try with the sour cream next time.

The batter was thick. But it turned out great.

Yummy! I followed some other reviews and added about 1/4 c. sour cream and 1/4 c. pureed thawed plums (had some in the freezer from last year) into the batter. I also mixed white sugar and brown sugar for the batter. I also used the broiler at the end to crisp up the topping. It turned out excellent! Will make again.

Did as suggested in the comments and added 1/2 cup sour cream; this was SO good, it didn't even last an hour!

Seriously you could use 1/4 of the topping. The recipe calls for way too much. I also added about 1/4 cup of sour cream to the batter & sprinkled the top with sliced almonds before baking. Delish!

It's pretty good -- I used a 9" square pan (sq inches are within 10% of each other) and could only fit 12 halves of the plums onto the dough. When we had an Italian plum tree years ago, the plums were pretty much the size of mine, so I'm not sure how I'd ever have fitted 20 halves on there! I do agree with the comments re too much topping. Maybe half or a little more? I have still 2 more plum cake recipes to try so I'm not sure which one will win out. Might make this one again.

Used two 9 inch pans, baked nicely. Used more cinnamon and added cardamom. Great recipe to use homegrown Italian prunes.

This was really pleasant. I don't like plums but my husband does and remembers his grandma's plumb kuchen, which I was trying to recreate. I added 1/2 cup pureed cottage cheese because I didn't have sour cream. I sliced 2 bigger plums into 8 pieces each and arranged them into in concentric circles on the batter in a round pan. I used half the crumb topping as suggested by another reviewer but did not halve the cinnamon. Also added chopped pecans on top. It was a perfectly moist texture and really tasty. I will make again.

Easy and delicious.

Tasty. I grew up with the topping from this recipe put on another style of kuchen minus the cinnamon. I forgot to add the cinnamon but will try this again. Got a thumbs up review from my toughest critic. Used an 8 x 11 Pyrex dish. Ten plums was perfect. Recipe good as written. I did sub some whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose. and I didn't use more than 1/2 of topping.

I used just half of the topping and about 1/4 lb. of plums. Just right!

I made it as called for, but only used 3 plums, they were sufficient. Dessert was delicious and I will make it again!

its delicious! in my back yard i have a huge plum tree and its a great way to use some of them up! One thing is, if you put a lot of the topping in one place it doesn't taste very good but all spread out its delicious!!! thanks for the recipe

I used xanthum gum and water instead of eggs and didn't add the crumb topping. Turned out great!

DELICIOUS. I'm on my second piece already.

I added a cup of plain yogurt and used butter instead of margarine. It's moist, compliments the plums perfectly, and I can imagine using other fruit with the same base recipe, too!

Really yummy. Only change was I used white sugar for bottom and brown sugar for the top. Used plums available at this time which were both small and large dark red ones. Worked perfectly.

Delicious! I was out of vanilla so I used almond extract. I'm sure the recipe as written is also very good but our family loved this change. We have a lot of plums in the freezer and I think we will be making this many times this winter.

I added sour cream to the recipe as others had suggested. This is the best plum coffee cake I have ever made. I didn't add the crumble topping but it was still the best. I will make again.

I used an 8x8 pan. I also added a bit more melted butter (a 4th tablespoon, maybe) to the topping, since it seemed so powdery. I don't know what italian plums are. My plums were about the size of a golf ball and were a bit on the sour and watery side, which is why I looked for a recipe to use them in. Turned out great--great mix of tart and sweet, and great with coffee or milk.

Dad approved! Passed the "as good as Grandma test". I added 4 tab of ricotta instead of sour cream as some suggested. Also added lemon zest to the batter. Left out the cinnamon as I don't recall Grandma's having any. Good tip from another post regarding when it's done...look for the edges.

This is my go to recipe for plum cake but there is definitely waaaaaay too much topping. I halve the topping ingredients and it’s still too much for a 12inch springform pan sized cake.

so very good will make it again

I added prune plums instead of whats called for and it turned out great. I also made a double batch and you would think that you would need a bigger pan but no the 7'11 was fine.

It was delicious but just a tad too sweet for me. Next time I’ll add less sugar.

my German mom used to make this recipe. It tasted almost identical minus some of the crumble topping I found to be too sweet. I would use half as much and more plums.

The thick dough made an excellent base for the fruit! I cut the amount of crumble topping down to about one third, which was perfect for a 9-inch diameter glass pie pan. I was going to use plums, but when we cut the plums open, it turned out they were rotten so they had to be thrown out! We sliced up apples instead, and they worked really well. Hope to have good plums for this recipe next summer.

I put more butter and an extra egg to make it pourable. Also I put more butter for the topping. I like this recipe.

This was a great cake. I made it as written. Like other reviewers, I did not use all the topping as it was a lot in proportion to the cake batter itself.

Great recipe, but I did make two alterations: I added about a third cup mayonnaise (richer than sour cream) to the batter and used cardamom instead of cinnamon. Came out excellent.

Delicious

I put some pears, pitted, and pealed. I thing got a good result!

I, too, found that the topping just sat on top and after 35 minutes baking it was still white flour sitting on top. I poured some melted butter on it and baked another 30 minutes. I will leave the topping off next time.

This is absolutely delicious! I doubled the recipe & cut extra pieces in squares, and froze them in Tupperware. Great recipe. Thank you!

Other than a thickish topping, we all agreed that this dish was delicious as is written in the recipe and devoured 1/2 the pan!! I think, going forward, we'll keep the recipe the same and just put down some topping before the plums and then finish with the rest of the topping. So so so good!!