Pflaumenkuchen Agnes Plum Cake Food

GERMAN PLUM CAKE (PFLAUMENKUCHEN)

Steps:

• Lightly butter an 8x8 inch (20x20cm) baking dish or tin. Mix together the dry ingredients for the base - flour, sugar, yeast and salt - in a medium bowl.
• Put the butter and milk into a small microwavable dish and warm in 15 second intervals to gently warm the milk and melt the butter. The butter should be just melting and the milk lukewarm. Add this mixture (left to cool first, if too warm), the egg yolk and the vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix all together.
• Knead the dough gently for a minute or two - it should be soft but not wet so add a little more flour if too wet, or milk if it seems to crumble from being dry. Then, press the dough into the buttered baking dish. Press it right to the corners, flat across the bottom then slightly up at the edges.
• Cut the plums in half, along the bit that looks like a seam, then remove the stone. Cut each plum half in half. Arrange the plum quarters over the base as tightly as you can, ideally in rows, cut side up. Leave the dish at warm room temperature to let the dough rise slightly for approximately 1 hour (don't worry if it doesn't obviously change much).
• As the rest time is about done, preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Sprinkle the 1/2tbsp of sugar over the plums, if using.
• Rub together the flour, cinnamon, butter and sugar for the streusel then sprinkle it evenly over the plums.
• Bake the cake for approximately 30 -35 minutes, until the top is gently starting to brown and you can see the plums have softened underneath. Let the cake rest for around 10 minutes before cutting into slices. Works well as it is, both warm or at room temperature, as well as with cream.

PFLAUMENKUCHEN - AGNES' PLUM CAKE

Steps:

• Wash, remove pits and cut plums into fourths. Set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar together till pale yellow.
• Add eggs and lemon extract. Beat together.
• Mix baking powder with flour; gradually add it to wet ingredients.
• Divide dough into two portions, pat each into a round 9 inch cake pan.
• Layer on top of base in a concentric circle. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and dot with butter. Bake in 350º F. oven for 30 minutes or until dough is golden and firm.

PFLAUMENKUCHEN (GERMAN PLUM CAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Quarter each plum so that all four quarters remain clinging together by their skin, forming a row.
• In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter together by cutting the butter in with a fork.
• In a measuring cup, combine the beaten egg and almond extract, then add enough milk to make 3/8 of a cup (aka 3 oz) total. (It may seem strange that there isn't an exact amount of milk to add, but I promise this method works. You'll likely use under 2 oz of milk, considering that a large egg is usually around 1.5 oz or so.).
• Add this to the dry ingredients and mix them together with your hands, forming a dough.
• If the dough is too sticky, add a touch more flour.
• Spread the dough thinly over a 13x9 inch jelly roll pan and cover it with overlapping rows of plums. (It may seem like the dough will never stretch to fit the entire pan, but be patient! Use the heel of your hand to gently spread the dough out evenly to each corner of the pan, the crust is supposed to be on the thinner side anyway.).
• Bake the tart for 1 hour and let it cool slightly before sprinkling with sugar for extra sweetness (or skip the sugar if you like it sweet-tart like I do).
• The plums will change color from green to a deep magenta as they bake, and will ooze lots of sticky purple juice that stains the crust beneath. Be careful not to overbake, this crust should be on the softer side.