This Yogurt Plum Cake is a deliciously light, fresh and flavourful dessert that is super easy to make. Packed with delicious Summer Plums, this Yogurt Cake is perfect for afternoon tea or dessert!
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Why we love this recipe
Plums are often forgotten when it comes to Summer Fruits - but they are such a delicious fruit to bake with! They offer the perfect combination of sweetness and tang, with a flesh that turns deliciously soft when baked.
Associated with the light, fluffy and flavourful crumb of a Yogurt cake (just like the one from this French Yogurt Cake or Lemon Yogurt Cake), you get a perfectly balanced Summer dessert that is great for afternoon tea or a dinner party dessert!
More Plum Desserts:
Ingredients
This plum yogurt cake is made from simple, basic ingredients (Scroll down to recipe card below for all quantities):
- Plums: I used Red Plums but Yellow or Black Plums will work just fine! Try to go for a fruit that is not too ripe as you want the slices to hold their shapes when they bake. Depending on the size of the fruits and how much you want to add to your cake, you will need 3 or 4.
- Eggs: medium size and at room temperature.
- Sugar: Caster Sugar - or fine white granulated sugar.
- Butter: unsalted, melted and cooled down. Alternatively, you could also use cooking oil like Canola (or even olive oil) - but the butter adds a lot of flavours in the cake.
- Yogurt: I used Greek Yogurt, but a natural unsweetened plain yogurt will work too.
- Vanilla: Vanilla Paste for the best flavours, but Vanilla Extract is a good substitute too.
- Dry Ingredients: a mix of All-Purpose / Plain Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt (fine table salt). For the best results, mix and sift the dry ingredients together before adding them to the mix.
- Optional: Lemon Zest to balance the sweet flavour of the plums. You could also add a sprinkle of cinnamon powder or ground ginger if you want!
How to make Plum Yogurt Cake
Making this easy yogurt plum cake follows fairly simple instructions:
- Start by preheating your oven on 180'C/350'F. Prepare a 22 cm / 8,5 inch Springform Pan by lining the bottom with baking paper or parchment paper and lightly greasing the sides.
- Melt the Butter and set aside to cool down.
- Photo 1: Wash the fresh plums, remove the pits then cut into thin slices; about 12 to 16 plum slices per fruit. Set aside.
- Photo 2: place the Eggs and Sugar in a large bowl - or the bowl of your stand mixer. Optionally, add the lemon zest at this step.
- Photo 3: Whisk with a hand mixer / electric mixer for 3 to 5 minutes on medium speed. It should have increased in volume and be bubbly.
Whisking the eggs and sugar well for a few minutes is really important to get a nice, fluffy crumb. Don't skip that step!
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- Photo 4: Add the rest of the wet ingredients (melted Butter, Greek Yogurt and Vanilla).
- Photo 5: mix the batter on slow until smooth.
- Photo 6: Add the dry ingredients (Plain / All Purpose Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt), preferably mixed and sifted together first.
- Photo 7: Slowly mix until you get a thick batter, stopping as soon as combine to avoid over-working the mixture (which would result in a tougher cake texture).
The batter is relatively thick, that's normal!
- Photo 8: pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and spread it around with a small offset spatula or flat silicone spatula.
- Arrange the Plum Slices in circles over the yogurt cake batter, starting from the edges of the springform pan. You can add more or less plums depending on your taste
- Bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and leave to cool down completely before removing from the pan.
- Optionally, dust with some Icing Sugar for decoration before serving.
Recipe FAQs
You could use any type of Plums you would like, from Red to Yellow or Black Plums! Try to pick fruits that are not too ripe as you don't want them to turn into mush when baked. You will also want them to be a bit firm to easily cut them into thin slices.
Yes - the butter can be replaced with a neutral flavoured oil such a canola oil or go for a different flavour with olive oil. The greek yogurt can be substituted with a dairy-free / planted based natural yogurt that is unflavoured and unsweetened.
It will work will self-rising flour, although you won't get as much of a tall cake. SF Flour does not usually contains Baking Soda, which is used in in this plum yogurt cake to create a higher rise thanks to its reaction with the acidic yogurt. If using Self-Rising Flour, make sure to add extra baking soda.
Yogurt is a great ingredient to bake with. Not only it adds a delicious tangy flavour and extra fat to the baked goods, it also adds great moisture to cake. Combined with Baking Soda, the acidity of the yogurt it will also help your baked goods rise more.
Note that for the best results, you should use a full fat / full cream yogurt and not a light yogurt or non-fat yogurt!
Tips for Success
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl then mix it well together before adding it to the wet ingredients. This will insure an even distribution of the leavening agents without the need to over-mix the cake batter!
- After whisking together the eggs and sugar, only mix on slow to avoid deflating the cake batter and over-mixing it. You could also switch to a hand whisk after the first step if preferred.
- To finish the yogurt plum cake, dust it with a little bit of icing sugar or serve with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
- Switch the plums for peaches, nectarines or apricots for a different fruity flavour! Or combine different stone fruits together for pretty colours.
Storing & Freezing
This yogurt and plum cake will stay fresh for day, which is one of the reason I love it so much! I've had a slice three days after baking it and it still tasted deliciously soft. I recommend keeping it at room temperature for up to 3 days (or 5 days in the fridge - but the crumb will turn drier).
Although this cake can be frozen, I would recommend to eat it fresh for the best flavour and texture.
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Recipe
Yogurt Plum Cake
Ingredients
- 120 gr (1/2 cup) Unsalted Butter, melted
- 3 to 4 Plums
- 3 medium Eggs, at room temperature
- 120 gr (1/2 cup) Caster Sugar
- 1 Lemon, zested, optional
- 250 gr (1 cup) Greek Yogurt, or plain natural yogurt (unsweetened)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Paste, or extract
- 225 gr (1 1/2 cup) Plain / All Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 pinch Fine Table Salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven on 180'C/350'F. Prepare a 22 cm / 8,5 inch Springform Pan by lining the bottom with baking paper and lightly greasing the sides.
- Melt the Butter and set aside to cool down.
- Wash, pit then cut the fresh plums into thin slices; about 12 to 16 plum slices per fruit (see note 1). Set aside.
- Place the Eggs and Sugar (plus optionally the lemon zest) in a large bowl and whisk with a hand mixer on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until increased in volume and very bubbly (see note 2).
- Slowly mix in the cooled down melted Butter, Greek Yogurt and Vanilla until smooth (see note 3).
- Add the Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda and Salt - preferably pre-sifted and mixed. Slowly mix it in, stopping as soon as it looks incorporated (see note 4). You should get a thick cake batter.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and spread it around with a spatula. Arrange the plum slices over the cake batter in large circles, starting from the edges of the pan and working towards the centre of the cake (see note 5).
- Bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Leave to cool down completely before removing from the pan.
- Optionally, dust with a little bit of icing sugar before serving.
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Notes
- Depending on the size of the fruits, how thick you want the slices to be and how much you want to add to your cake, you will need 3 or 4 plums. You could use less if preferred - it is up to you!
- Whisking the eggs and sugar well for a few minutes is really important to get a nice, fluffy crumb. You can also do this step in a stand mixer or even by hands if you are after a workout!
- You don't want to mix the batter for too long here to avoid deflating it (popping the air bubbles created during the previous step).
- Avoid over-working the mixture at this point, which would create in a tougher, less tender cake texture.
- You can add more or less plums / layer them on top of each other to use more fruits depending on your taste. I used as many plum slices as possible so they are placed very close together, each slice slightly overlapping the next one.
Nutrition (per serving)
Easy Yogurt Plum Cake Story
