Cozy and Nice

A plum cake for late summer

Pflaumenstreuselkuchen!

The boys’ school started a whole two weeks before other Berlin schools, which means that we are back in our regular routine, but Berlin still feels quieter and emptier than it usually does and it’s sort of magical. None of us are really on the right schedule yet, so we’re going to bed a little too late (watching all those DNC speeches takes time!) and the early morning alarm clock is painful, but for whatever reason, things feel cozy and nice rather than stressful. I don’t quite understand why, but I’m not complaining. I haven’t quite settled into a cooking routine yet, either, since last week I was finalizing a bunch of bonus recipes for cookbook preorders (more on this soon - but yes, if you preorder Classic German Cooking, you will get a little gift of bonus recipes) and we went out for pizza over the weekend. (You can pre-order the book anywhere in the world; either on your local Amazon or at your local bookstore! In Germany, you can preorder it at Dussmann, Hugendubel or Thalia, for example.)

One thing I did do was bake a cake with the boys. The damson plum aka the Italian prune plum aka the Zwetschge (spellings vary) is in season right now and we were all very much in the mood to make a cake. So I pulled out Classic German Baking and used the cake recipe on page 61, substituting fresh quartered plums for the sour cherries. I made a little video for you and just want to point out that the quantity of plums we used (1 1/2 pounds/680 grams) was really the bare minimum and that you should, if you make this, try to squeeze in a few more because the squishy sweet-sour plums under the cap of crunchy streusel is really the star and you want/need it to balance out the deliciously plush crumb of the cake underneath.

Most Germans making plum cakes right now aren’t actually making batter cakes, they’re making yeasted cakes topped with plums. And something funny about German yeasted plum cake is that it is, in many regions, the accompaniment to vegetable soup. Not the dessert! Depending on the region, the star ingredient of the soup will vary. In the Saarland, it’ll be green beans, in the Pfalz and Baden-Württemberg, it’ll be potatoes. The cake is barely sweetened and there’s no sugary or streusel topping. It’s just juicy plums on top of a yeasted cake base which soaks up all the fruit juices. The fruity, sweet-sour cake cut into squares and eaten alongside the hearty, savory soup is a beloved tradition. (A recipe can be found on page 88 of CGB.)

Hugo could not care less about helping me bake, but Bruno is an avid helper. (Hugo, however, will happily eat a piece of cake every day, while Bruno is largely uninterested past the first piece. ) He’s 7 now and very good with a paring knife. If you want to make this cake with your children, I suggest giving them the plums to deal with while you make the batter. They have to cut the plums in half along the seam, remove the pit, then cut each half in half again. A very nice job that will keep them occupied for basically as long as it’ll take you to make the batter.

What else do you need to know? Oh right, the cake will be even faster to make if you keep your butter at room temperature. We always do because we use butter on the boys’ school sandwiches and there is nothing worse than trying to make sandwiches at 6:20 am with fridge-cold butter. If you make the streusel first and then stick it in the fridge or freezer, it should be good to go by the time you’re done with the rest of the cake and assembly.

Pflaumenstreuselkuchen
Plum Streusel Cake
Makes one 9x13-inch (23x33cm) cake

Streusel
7 tablespoons/100 grams unsalted butter (ideally high-fat, European-style butter), softened
1/2 cup/100 grams sugar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon/135 grams all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground cinnamon

Fruit
1 1/2 pounds/680 grams prune plums, pitted and quartered, plus more if desired

Cake Batter
15 1/2 tablespoons/220 grams unsalted butter (ideally high-fat, European-style butter), softened
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons/175 grams sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon/300 grams all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons whole milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a 9 x 13-inch/23 x 33cm baking pan with parchment paper, letting the sides hang over the edges to function as a sling after baking.

2. To make the Streusel: In a medium bowl, place the softened butter. Add the sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Work together with your fingertips until the mixture is well combined and crumbly, with both lima bean- and pea-sized clumps. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

3. Prepare the fruit and set aside.

4. To make the batter: In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides between additions. Then beat in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine together the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, scrape down the sides, and then beat in the milk. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

5. Arrange the plums in the batter at an angle, making neat rows. Take the bowl of streusel out of the refrigerator, break up any large clumps with your hands, and distribute the Streusel evenly over the plums. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the Streusel is light golden.

6. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack. The cake can be served slightly warm or at room temperature. The cake will keep at room temperature, covered loosely with plastic wrap, for several days.