This authentic German Plum Cake recipe, known as Zwetschgenkuchen or Zwetschgendatschi, is made just the way you know and love it from Germany! A yeast-based cake with juicy plums and a sweet streusel topping, this extraordinarily delicious cake is one of my very favorites and is the way my Mutti and Oma made it!
For more fruity German cakes be sure to also try our German Apple Cake, Rhubarb Streusel Cake, and while not exactly “cake,” our Apple Strudel is a must!
Depending on which region of Germany you’re in, German plum cake goes by a variety of names including Zwetschgenkuchen, Zwetschgendatschi, Quetschekuche or Pflaumenkuchen. I know, they’re all tongue-twisters! :)
Variations exist throughout the regions of Germany with some versions using a yeast dough while others use a shortcrust pastry known as Rührteig. Some have a streusel topping while others omit it. And some people make them round and taller while others make them rectangular in the style known as “Blechkuchen” (sheet pan cake). But whichever pastry crust is used, with or without streusel, and whether it’s round or rectangular, all of these versions showcase the plump, juicy, sweet European plums known as Italian plums.
Which Plums Do I Need to Make German Plum Cake?
To make proper German plum cake you really need Italian plums. These are small and oval-shaped and are far meatier than their Asian plum cousins. Fleshier with a lower moisture content is important because you want to have a moist cake, not a mushy cake. Italian plums are considered the most ideal for cooking and baking not only because of their texture but also because their flavor becomes more complex and delicious through cooking. Italian plum season is short, usually from September through early October, and Germans know how to seize the opportunity when it’s there. So wait patiently for plum season and then hit your local farmer’s markets for some Italian plums. Alternatively you can also use frozen Italian plums; just be sure to thaw and very thoroughly drain them before using them.
We were so lucky to have our own Italian plum trees when we lived in Washington State. When we moved to Virginia a few years ago we immediately got to work planting an orchard of fruit trees, including some Italian plums. They’re not yielding a lot of fruit yet, but they’re getting there and I’ll be ready for them!
The version of German Plum Cake that we’re making today is my personal favorite. It’s made with yeast dough, which is more time-consuming than the simpler Rührteig (shortcrust pastry) versions, but it’s far superior in my opinion. This traditional version is also sprinkled with a streusel topping. This Zwetschgenkuchen recipe is the way my Mutti and Oma made it and is typical of where I’m from in Baden-Württemberg, though this version is popular throughout Germany. This type of Zwetschgenkuchen is typically made on a Backblech (a baking sheet) versus in a round springform and cut into squares for serving.
Like most German cakes, this German plum cake is not overly sweet. It has a nice balance between sweet and tart with just a touch of warmth from the cinnamon. The riper the plums the sweeter the cake will be.
This German plum cake will keep for 2-3 days. And although the streusel will get soft, the cake tastes even better the day after baking as the juices from the plums have time to penetrate the dough.
Can I Use Other Fruits?
You sure can! This recipe is also delicious using other stone fruits like apricots, peaches and nectarines.
Can You Freeze German Plum Cake?
Yes, you can. I generally recommend eating it within a couple of days but if you have more leftovers than you can manage, this can be wrapped and put in a freezer container for up to a month. Let it thaw in the fridge overnight.
German Plum Cake Recipe
Let’s get started!
Dissolve the yeast into the warm milk and let is sit for 5-10 minutes until frothy.
Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and pour in the yeast mixture, melted warm (not hot) butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Give it an initial stir to combine the ingredients and then attach a dough hook and knead it on the bread setting (“2”) for 4-5 minutes.
The dough will be sticky but should hold together fairly well. It will not be firm enough to knead into a ball, think of it more as a thick batter.
Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and set it in a warm, draft free place to rise for an hour or until about doubled in size.
Generously butter a large jelly roll pan (at least 18 inches in length and about 13 inches wide) or, like I’m using and as pictured below, a German Backblech if you have one (the one I’m using in the picture I brought with me from Germany).
Use your hands to spread the dough out across the full length of the pan, pressing it up against the sides. It’s yeast dough so it will resist, but just keep pushing it back into position the best you can. Once you put the plums on it, those will help keep it in place.
Time for the plums! The riper the plums the sweeter the cake will be. However, if they’re overly ripe – meaning mushy – they’ll be even mushier on the finished baked product, so keep that in mind too.
Cut the plums in half and remove the pits. Then slice the plums in half again, slicing each plum into quarters.
Lay the plums close together in rows over the whole length of the dough on the sheet pan.
If you want your cake a bit sweeter you can sprinkle it *lightly* with sugar or cinnamon-sugar if you prefer more cinnamon. I emphasize “lightly” because the more sugar you add the more watery the cake will be as the sugar liquifies during baking and your streusel will also “melt” in contact with it.
Set the pan in a warm place and let it rise for up to another hour.
Now let’s make the streusel topping. Place all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and use your fingers to bring it all together. Work with the mixture until it’s thoroughly combined and forms a rough sand and clumpy texture.
Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the cake.
Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven preheated to 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden.
Let the cake sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing to let some of the liquid set.
Slice the cake into squares.
A tool that I use that’s really handy and works like a charm for sheet cakes and many other things is the OXO Multi-Purpose Scraper & Chopper.
Serve and enjoy!
Guten Appetit!
For more delicious German desserts be sure to try our:
- German Apple Cake
- German Cheesecake
- Cherry Marzipan Streusel Cake
- Gugelhupf
- Stollen
- Rhubarb Streusel Cake
- Pfeffernüsse
- Lebkuchen
- Zimtsterne
German Plum Cake (Zwetschgenkuchen)
Ingredients
- 3 + pounds Italian plums ,cut into quarters, pits removed
- 1 cup warm milk , *start with 3/4 and add extra to the dough as needed
- 1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick butter (1/2 cup melted but not hot)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon quality pure vanilla extract
- For the Streusel:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter ,at room temperature
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast into the 3/4 cup warm milk and let is sit for 5-10 minutes until frothy.
- Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and pour in the yeast mixture, melted warm (not hot) butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Give it an initial stir to combine the ingredients and then attach a dough hook and knead it on the bread setting ("2") for 4-5 minutes, adding the remaining 1/4 cup milk as necessary. (The dough will be sticky but should hold together fairly well. It will not be firm enough to knead into a ball, think of it more as a thick batter.) Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and set it in a warm, draft free place to rise for an hour or until about doubled in size.
- Generously butter a German Backblech extended to full length or a large jelly roll pan (at least 18 inches in length and 1 inch sides but even then the crust will be thicker than with the Backblech).
- Use your hands to spread the dough out across the full length of the pan, pressing it up against the sides. (It's yeast dough so it will resist, but just keep pushing it back into position the best you can. Once you put the plums on it, those will help keep it in place.) Lay the plums close together in rows over the whole length of the dough on the sheet pan. (If you want your cake a bit sweeter you can sprinkle it *lightly* with sugar or cinnamon-sugar if you prefer more cinnamon. I emphasize "lightly" because the more sugar you add the more watery the cake will be as the sugar liquifies during baking and your streusel will also "melt" in contact with it.)
- Set the pan in a warm place and let it rise for up to another hour.
- To make the streusel: Place all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and use your fingers to bring it all together. Work with the mixture until it's thoroughly combined and forms a rough sand and clumpy texture. Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the cake.
- Bake the cake on the middle rack of the oven preheated to 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden.
- Let the cake sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing to let some of the liquid set. Slice the cake into squares and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet September 8, 2016
Ingrid King says
Thank you, Kimberly!
Ava Boczko-Pan says
Dearest Kimberley. Greetings from New York!
Your Zwetschgenkuchen post was very timely and so beautiful.
My Mom is also from Stuttgart and we enjoyed the start to Labor Day weekend by baking one too! So delicious and sign that summer is slowly coming to an end. We take every chance to bake when we find Italian plums in our local supermarket.
We bake with the seasons so once the plums are finished we will move our sights to Zweibelkuchen. Our mouths watered from your Zweibelkuchen post last Fall!
Winter and Christmas are coming too and I can never get enough Hutzelbrot (dried fruit cake). My uncle used to send it from Germany. I long to make it from scratch but it sounds rather complicated.
Would love it if you could post about Hutzelbrot 🙏
Best of luck with all your Pflaumen.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Ava, that’s wonderful! I am not in the least bit ready for Summer to end but yes, it’s dishes like glorious Zwiebelkuchen that make the transition to cooler seasons worth it! :) I’ve made a note about the Hutzelbrot :)
Ingrid King says
Zwiebelkuchen! Another wonderful childhood memory. I haven’t had it since I left Germany more than 30 years ago. I better look for Kimberly’s post about it!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Here you go, Ingrid! :) https://www.daringgourmet.com/zwiebelkuchen-german-onion-pie/ NOTHING says Autumn quite like Zwiebelkuchen!
Annelene Elke Oaks says
The last Time I made Zwiebelkuchen must have been 20 years ago.
Made it fora 80 year old Customer was from the Swabian Region in Germany. He was one of my Customers when I was still working as MeterReader for the Utility Company.
Ingrid King says
This was one of my favorite cakes as a child growing up in Stuttgart. My mom made it multiple times during plum season. While I have a lot of my mom’s recipes for her amazing cakes, her plum cake recipe was not part of the collection, so this is wonderful, thank you!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Wonderful, Ingrid! It’s always been one of my favorites, too. I also grew up in Stuttgart, the heart of Swabia and home to Germany’s best cuisine :) By the way, my mom’s name is Ingrid and it’s also our daughter’s middle name :)
Ingrid King says
Small world! Ingrid is such a rare name in the US, it’s always fun to hear about other Ingrids. And you are so right about Swabia being home to Germany’s best cuisine. I recently came across this book, an entire chapter is devoted to Swabian cuisine, you (and perhaps some of your other readers from that part of Germany) may enjoy it: https://amzn.to/2wyXRm7
Luise says
Too many plums?? Slice the plums in half, remove the pits, dip the cut side unto lemon juice, place cut side down on a baking sheet, put into freezer, freeze till frozen, put into freezer bags, (I usually put in as many halves as you need for a cake), and place back into freezer. Excellent for use during the long winter months to bake Dutch plum cake or crumble. Works on yeast dough as well, but takes longer for dough to rise, I usually partly thaw them for yeast cakes. Enjoy.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Great tip, Luise, thanks for sharing!
Emily Summer says
Oh, my mamma used to make this with meube teig some years. Then topped with whipped cream. It freezes well, too. Too delicious for words.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Too delicious is right, Emily! Whether with yeast dough or mürbteig, German plum cake is SO good!
Anne Cauley Gray says
My mom is German and made plum kuchen every year in September. For the last two years she hasn’t been able to find the plums. Would love to send some to her somehow, any ideas?
I have a local friend who just gave me some. So we will at least have one.
I did see I could send her a tree, but at 76 she’s starting to slow down and might not appreciate that as much as a bushel.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Anne, this cake is really best eaten within 2 days, any longer and it becomes soggy so it’s definitely no suitable for mailing. If you mail the plums I would just recommend picking ones that are still very firm. Good luck and I hope your mom is able to enjoy some of this cake somehow, some way!
Ingrid Dayton says
Pie filling! Use a spiced plum pie filling recipe, or the one you use for the plums on top of the Zwetschgenkuchen. Or combine the plums with peaches, pears, figs, whatever.
Here’s the secret:
Make your pie filling.
Pour it into a ziplock bag and zip it shut.
Lay the ziplock bag containing the filling on it’s side in a pie pan.
Freeze the entire thing overnight.
The next day, take the ziplock bag out of the pie pan. It will be the shape of the pie plate and you can take the plate out and leave the filling in the freezer to use when you like.
When it’s pie time, make a fresh crust, and put the frozen disc filling in its as you would fresh. The only difference between using frozen vs fresh is that frozen pie filling needs to be baked a little longer.
PIE!
Bake it at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until it’s done. Plum pies seem to need to bake longer, so keep an eye on it and maybe bake a little longer if it needs it.
I always make these frozen fillings when I have a lot of fruit. It’s a fast solution plus PIE.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Brilliant, Ingrid, thanks for sharing!
Daniela says
Hello Kimberly – I love this recipe, but wonder if I can make the dough successfully with a hand mixer instead of a Kitchenade. It must be ok, since my Omi and Mom both made this cake (wir sind Deutsche!) Many thanks, Daniela
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Daniela! The dough will be too stiff for a hand mixer (depending on what kind of hand mixer you have) but you can absolutely knead it by hand. The Kitchenaid is simply a shortcut. Happy baking!
Leila says
I have been in search of a Plum Cake recipe like the one my Omi used to make for me when I visited for the Summer. We can certainly go out and purchase Zwetschgen for this recipe, but I wanted to ask if you thought it could work successfully using other kinds of plums. My daughter has been harvesting plums from our neighbors garden, and we have more than we know what to do with, but these are just your traditional dark red skinned plums. I guess we can always just give it a try, but I would hate to waste the plums if you don’t think they will work. Thanks so much!!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Leila, some varieties of plums just have more water content than others and so may result in a soggier cake. I’m not sure about the particular plums you have, but you can certainly give them a try.
Carolyn says
Hi Kimberly,
I just stumbled onto your site, and it looks great! I look forward to perusing it further as I have time.
I make this recipe – very similar to yours – but I want to give yours a try. It looks wonderful! I just want to double-check the quantity of yeast: is 1 1/2 Tablespoons the correct amount? (I’m concerned it may be a little too much).
Do you have experience in freezing plums for szilvasgomboc/Zwetschgenknodel? When no plums are available, I use plum butter, but I was thinking it might be great to have frozen plums in the freezer that I can use for making the plum dumplings. I’m thinking they may get too soggy though. But I thought I’d ask you if you’ve tested it before I give it a try.
How about using frozen plums for the zwetschenkuchen? Have you ever tried that? Do you know if that would work? Would it be too soggy? I’ve used frozen cherries for a Hungarian cherry cake and frozen blueberries for a streusel blueberry buckle, so I wonder if frozen plums would work? (I’m thinking I would just just them frozen, without thawing, as I do the cherries and blueberries.)
Thanks for your time!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Carolyn! Yes, 1 1/2 tablespoons sounds like a lot but it is correct. I haven’t tried using frozen plums before so I’m not really sure. Like you, I have used frozen cherries and other berries and those work fine. So theoretically, as long as the plums are fully thawed and thoroughly drained they should be fine as well.
Petra says
Hi Kimberly,
I have a question. Are the plums supposed to be very ripe? Some recipes call for tart plums but I find they don’t cook down fast enough and then the bread is too dry if you keep the kuchen in the oven too long. We have plum trees and this year the one that did best is the one named Brooks plum. It’s a huge Italian plum so quarters are large. I may cut them into fifths, maybe that will help. I will try your recipe and your method but if you have ever had this trouble of the fruit not being done before the bread and you have any suggestions…I am all ears. This is my favorite cake. Yes, born in Germany, lived in Augsburg. Mother passed, cannot ask her recipe questions. Glad I know what I do.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Petra, yes, I use ripe plums because they’re sweeter but they’re still fairly firm and then fully soften during baking. If you haven’t been baking the cake on the middle oven rack, that is what I recommend to prevent the problem you’re describing.
Cam says
I halved the recipe and used a 13 x 9 glass baking dish. It worked out fine. The kuchen tasted like I remember my Oma’s tasting when I was a child. It was absolutely wonderful! My spouse liked it better the second day when the cinnamon came out a bit more. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Cam, I’m so glad you both enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback about the 13×9 dish!
Theresa Hilbig says
This is the exact recipe my Mom used for years. I feel the same about the plums, as you mentioned. I want to save and eat as many as possible. I am now gluten free so i am hoping that this recipe will work with my gluten free flour! Thank you so much for preserving this wonderful tradition of Fall Kuchen!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Gluten free should work perfectly fine, Theresa, happy baking and eating! :)
Theresa Hilbig says
This is the exact recipe my Mom used for years. I feel the same about the plums, as you mentioned. I want to save and eat as many as possible. I am now gluten free so i am hoping that this recipe will work with my gluten free flour! Thank you so much for preserving this wonderful tradition of Fall Kuchen! I have a question:how well does this recipe freeze?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Theresa, it should freeze okay fully baked (then let it thaw at room temperature), but the streusel won’t retain it’s crunch, which may not be a big deal.
JP says
Do you know if the recipe works properly with a large rectangular glass Pyrex dish? ( +- 2″ tall) Maybe too high to bake properly?
Anyone try that? Let me know please. Thanks.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi JP, you can but will need to cut back on all the ingredients – dough, plums and streusel – to get it to fit. The German baking sheet used in this recipe is much bigger than a Pyrex rectangle dish.
AA-Hertha Poeszat says
Where can I buy this pan?h
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi, there’s are several links to this pan in my post to where you can purchase it online (e.g., click on the picture of the pan and it will take you to it).