Germany: Zwetschgentorte (Autumn Plum Cake)
When summer turns to fall in central Europe, the fruit sellers in the street markets start offering piles of beautiful juicy plums -- especially some of the small heirloom varieties that the supermarkets can't or won't carry.
This is the signal for the bakery windows to start filling up with plum-based goodies. All the regions in the German-speaking countries seem to have favorite plum cakes or pastries. The Swiss, for example, go in heavily for zwetschgenwaehe -- broad flat tarts with halved plums resting on beds of custard and plum jam, or deeper plum confections that are more of a cross between a cake and a pie. These are usually called zwetschgentorten (the word just means "plum cake" in German).
This zwetschgentorte, though, is a slightly different and perhaps more old-fashioned take on the concept. It involves a surprisingly simple treatment for the fruit, one that features no special seasoning: it's the quality (and quantity) of the plums that make the resulting cake a winner. Sliced and dredged in sugar, then piled into a springform pan with just enough of the sweet, light cake dough to hold the fruit together, the plums ooze sweet juice into the dough as they bake. The final result is a moist, luscious cake that only needs a dusting of powdered sugar to make it perfect.
Click on "read more" for the recipe.
Ingredients:
For the cake dough:
- 200g / 1 cup butter, softened
- 150g / 3/4 cup sugar
- 250g / 2 cups flour
- 150g / 3/4 cup potato starch
- 4 level teaspoons baking powder
- 4 eggs, separated
(A note here about the potato starch: this stuff turns up a great deal in continental baking as a binding agent in cakes, especially where fruit is involved: it seems to help the batter absorb the fruit juices without getting overly heavy. It's worth going out of your way to find it, but if you can't, you can probably safely substitute half a cup of flour with a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed into it.)
For the filling:
- 1 kilogram / 2 1/4 lb small juicy plums, washed, stoned, and quartered (or sliced smaller if necessary: slices should be about an inch thick)
- 50g / 1/4 cup sugar to dredge the plums in (more if necessary)
You'll also need:
- A 22 centimeter-wide springform pan
- About a teaspoon of butter to grease the pan
- Two tablespoons of fine dry breadcrumbs or cornflake crumbs to coat the buttered pan
- Powdered sugar / confectioners' sugar / icing sugar to dust the finished cake
Method:
First, butter the springform pan well: then put the bread crumbs / cornflake crumbs in it and turn and shake the pan until all interior surfaces are well crumbed. Leave any loose crumbs in the bottom of the pan.
Cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking powder and potato starch (or substitute). Beating all the time at medium speed, start adding the sifted flour mixture a couple of tablespoonsful at a time to the butter and sugar.
By the time all the flour is added, the dough is going to look very granular. Don't worry: this is normal. Add the four egg yolks to the dough and continue beating. The dough will now become very solid and lumpy. This too is normal. Beat until the egg yolks are completely combined. Then stop the beater and, in another bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the egg whites to the dough and beat just until they're completely combined with the mixture. It should now start looking a little like cake dough.
Preheat the oven to 200° C / 400° F.
While the oven's heating, take half the dough and spread it evenly across the bottom of the springform pan. Because of the crumbs, the dough is going to try to slide around when you do this -- so your best bet is probably to spread it out with your fingers while holding the dough still. Once this is done, when the oven is ready, put the pan in and bake the bottom of the cake for 10 minutes.
While this is going on, wash, stone and slice the plums (if you haven't done this beforehand), put them in a bowl, add the sugar set aside for this purpose, and stir them well to coat them. Then add them to the remainder of the dough and stir them well into it. The dough is going to remain thick and lumpy and will not coat the plums at all evenly. Don't worry too much about this.
When its first ten minutes in the oven are done, remove the springform pan and lower the oven heat to about 375° F / 180° C. Pile the plum and dough mixture into the pan -- it will completely fill it -- and push the plums gently down into the pan, smoothing the dough a little on the top. Put the springform pan back in the oven and bake for another 30 minutes.
When finished baking, allow to cool for ten minutes or so before running a knife carefully around the edges of the form to loosen it from any stuck-on sugar or plum juices. Dust with powdered sugar while still warm.
Then serve! And enjoy.
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