German Plum Cake (Zwetschgenkuchen)

My Omi prefers this without streusel, just absolute masses of plums – do whatever you like best. She says that without is more traditional (she’s from a small town in Hessen) and my mom agrees, but it’s often made with as well.

Zwetschgen are usually called prune plums or damsons in English. They’re smaller and have a slightly different flavour from larger plums, and are a special treat at this time of year. They’re one of those rare fruits that are still strictly seasonal.

Give this German plum cake a try if you can find zwetschgen, or use larger plums. Either way, it’s well worth making in early autumn.

Ingredients

• Non-Dairy Milk: I usually use oat milk, but any kind will work.
• Honey or Maple Syrup: honey if the cake doesn’t need to be fully vegan, and maple syrup if it does.
• Coconut Oil: this makes for the best texture – use refined if preferred.
• Yeast: if you want to use fresh yeast, it’s half a cube for this recipe.
• Spelt Flour: light (white) spelt. Whole grain makes the cake too heavy.
• Cinnamon: optional, and not traditional, but a hint of cinnamon is nice here.
• Plums: zwetschgen if you can find them – ask around, a surprising number of people grow these and don’t use them. You can often buy them in shops and at the market as well.
• Coconut Sugar: for the streusel topping.

Step by Step

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Tips and Notes

This is made on an oven-width baking sheet that’s typical to German ovens. If you don’t have this, you may want to make two smaller cakes instead.

If you are a big zwetschgen fan, you might have a special knife (it looks a bit like a garlic press) for cutting and de-stoning them. If not, cut along the seam of the plum, then open, remove the stone, and score the halves to make quarters that are all attached.

You add a bit of milk to the streusel because butter contains water. Coconut oil doesn’t, and it melts too quickly without the addition of a bit of non-dairy milk.

I haven’t tried making this overnight. You might be able to refrigerate the rolled out dough overnight before topping and baking, but I’m concerned it would rise too much.

Substitutions

Of course you can substitute round plums if you can’t find zwetschgen. Halve and then quarter, rather than quartering the whole plum.

Cane sugar can be substituted for coconut sugar if preferred. Use maple syrup and honey interchangeably, as always, depending on if the cake must be fully vegan.

White or all-purpose flour can be used in place of spelt flour. I haven’t tried making this recipe gluten free.

If you want a very traditional, butter based German plum cake, you can find my recipe for that at Baked.

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