The Fresh Loaf

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September Birthday Plum Cake

hanseata's picture
hanseata

September Birthday Plum Cake

There's no doubt about it - Pflaumenkuchen (German Plum Cake) is my birthday cake. In the beginning of September the first prune plums show up on the market just in time for my birthday.

My birthday party was always arranged by my grandmother, my Omi, who invested all her love and imagination in coming up with games and other entertainment for me and my friends. She definitely was my role model on how to make a child's birthday party a huge success!

"Hide-and-Seek" (in the dark), "Choose-the-Right-Candy" ( with nail biting suspense) , "Say-Whom-You-Love" (good for many giggles) and "Unwrap-the-Chocolate" (with hat and mittens, fork and knife!) were some of the games that raised excitement and noise levels to heights that called for quiet intervals of soap bubble blowing, or story telling, to calm down all the boisterous little guests.

Of course my grandmother also baked my birthday cake, a large sheet brimming full of prune plums resting on a bed of sweet yeast dough, generously sprinkled with almonds and cinnamon sugar. I loved that cake, and could eat a lot of it (though not quite as much as on those memorable occasions when my cousin Thomas and I would compete at wolfing down Omi's famous yeast dumplings!).

Nowadays, if I don't have to entertain a horde of hungry cake monsters, I bake a smaller plum cake version, either with a short or a streusel crust, in a springform pan. They taste as good as the large yeasted cake - especially with Gifford's award winning vanilla ice cream...

 

There are hundreds of German plum cake recipes, this cake here is easy to make and tastes best slightly warm, with vanilla ice cream.

You'll find the recipe here: http://hanseata.blogspot.com/2010/09/german-plum-cake-pflaumenkuchen.html

 

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Yum, that looks delicious!

I've been eyeing a Pflaumenkuchen recipe for a while now but never made it.  I really should.

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

And great looking plum cake.  We have wonderful plums this time of year in Northern California, too.  I should try something like this.  Thanks, Karin.

Glenn

wassisname's picture
wassisname

I haven't had Pflaumenkuchen in ages, but this just brought it all back.  It looks delicious.  I may have to start dropping hints to mom...

Marcus

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Thanks for all your friendly comments. Unfortunately prune plums are not very long available, so don't miss out on them - they are too tart to eat raw, but therefore much better for baking or cooking than other plums.

Marcus, just buy some and present them to your mother, together with the recipe, with a nice compliment about her fine cooking - I'm sure she will do it!

They taste also great as compote, cooked with a cinnamon stick and whatever leftover wine you might have - or a little juice or water. Add brown sugar, when they are soft, and have them with vanilla ice cream or with pancakes (my favorite).

Karin