Golden Polish Plum Cake with Cinnamon Sugar
1 h 10 min · Easy
#bake#budget#dessert#polish#summer
Late August in one tray: dark plums pressed cut-side down into buttery sponge, where they collapse into jammy pockets and stain the crumb purple. Every Polish grandmother has a version, and every version disappears before it fully cools.
Ingredientsfor 8 portions
- 12 medium Plums, halved and stoned
- 250 g All-Purpose Flour
- 120 g Unsalted Butter, softened
- 130 g Granulated Sugar
- 3 large egg Large Eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 0.5 tsp Sea Salt
Steps
- Heat the oven to 180 °C and line a rectangular baking tin with parchment. Halve and stone the plums and set them aside cut-side up.
- Beat the softened butter with most of the sugar for 3–4 minutes until pale, light and visibly increased in volume. This step whips air into the batter and is the difference between a light cake and a dense one.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then the vanilla. If the mixture looks curdled, add a spoonful of the flour to bring it back together.
- Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt and about half the cinnamon with a spatula, stopping the moment the flour disappears — overworking now makes the crumb tough.
- Spread the batter into the tin and level it. It will look like too little batter for the amount of fruit; trust it, the cake rises up around the plums.
- Press the plum halves cut-side down into the batter in tight rows, nudging them in so they sit almost flush. Mix the remaining sugar with the rest of the cinnamon and scatter it over the whole surface.
- Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the sponge is deep golden, springs back when pressed, and a skewer pushed into the cake between the plums comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin for at least 20 minutes — the plums are molten straight from the oven. Serve just warm, on its own or with a spoon of cream.
