Plum Streusel Cake

Living on the Central Coast of California, I don't get to experience the four seasons like other states do. We don't get the spectacular kaleidoscope of fall leaves, and we certainly do need rain! I do know that fall is coming when the sun starts setting earlier the evenings feel and I have to grab a jacket when we take our dog on his evening walk. I'm already seeing pumpkins for sale, and I'm happy about that!

I so love our summers because our average temperatures are 75 degrees, with a soft afternoon breeze from the ocean.  Our gas and Weber charcoal grill gets a workout during the summer preparing ribs, tri-tip and fresh corn. Yum!  I never tire of buying locally grown strawberries, and fresh corn-- made even sweeter that I am off work for most of June and July. For now, I call my school summer break "practicing for retirement".

The first signs of fall, for me, is when I spot Italian Prunes/Plums at my local grocery story.  These are very special prunes, to me, because they are what I need to make Bavarian Zwetschgendatschi  (German Plum Sheet Tart) that my Bavarian Mutti taught me how to make when I was a young girl.  These prunes (or plums, if you will) have a yellowish-green flesh and are a bit firmer than the kind of plums we typically buy in America.  They are perfect for baking!

The end of the season for the plums are coming to a close, so I bought a pound of them. I wanted to make a cake version with a streusel topping.   I brought one each of salted and unsalted butter to room temperature and zested a bit of lemon (this is very German).

The cake batter is very simple to make.  

I love lemon anything, so one of my baking ingredients that I keep in my pantry are Lorann Baking Emulsions. They aren't too overpowering, but this adds a little extra lemon flavor that I love (just 1 tsp. will do the trick.

All of the dry ingredients are mixed together with butter and eggs.  It's that simple!

The batter is a bit thick, but easily spreads in a springform pan. 

I pitted and quartered each plum and arranged them on top of the batter.

For the streusel, I used flour, sugar and butter and mixed together until it formed clumps.

Spread evenly...

Pop into the oven and bake about 50 minutes, cool for ten minutes and then cool to room temperature. 

The cake was just slightly warm when I cut into it (the aroma of butter and vanilla was too much to resist any longer).

I love streusel! I particularly love the crunchy texture that contrasts the soft cake layer.

This cake reminds me so much of our recent trip to Bavaria (my Mutti's Motherland). This makes about 8 servings and is perfect for brunch. Who am I kidding? Cake is good anytime of day!

TASTING NOTES:  I can already tell that this recipe is going to be very versatile.  I can see substituting a variety of fruits to this recipe such as peaches, apricots, apples or raspberries.  The cake part is just enough layer height to be moist, but to allow enough room for the fruit to shine through. The streusel topping baked crunchy and is definitely sweet (but the tartness of the plums balances that out pretty well). A dollop of fresh whipped cream would be a perfect addition as well.

Thanks to platedcravings.com for this recipe.

It seems as though my recent posts have all been, pretty much, desserts.  I love to bake and find that spending my Sunday mornings with my stand mixer and a new recipe is very therapeutic for me. It's nice to have a little "sweet ending" to pack into our lunches as well. 

There will be more savory recipes to come, I can promise you.  I love making soups and stews and on the weekends, making a "braised" slow cooked meal in the oven feels so cozy and comforting.  It's coming!

Oh, and my blog is in the midst of a redesign. Very soon, I will be moving to a new website platform.

Yes, I'm back!

As always, a printable recipe is at the end of this post. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me at foodiewife@gmail.com