German Plum Cake (Zwetschgenkuchen)
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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
- Berliner
- Dampfnudeln
- Germknödel
- Cherry Marzipan Streusel Cake
- Gugelhupf
- Stollen
- Rhubarb Streusel Cake
- Pfeffernüsse
- Lebkuchen
- Zimtsterne
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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
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
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!
Gluten free should work perfectly fine, Theresa, happy baking and eating! :)
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?
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.
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.
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.
Where can I buy this pan?h
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).
Thanks for this! I am going to try making it this weekend. Do you have the quantities in metric measurements?
Hi Ingrid, I’m slowly going through all of my recipes and including the metric measurements. I’ve just updated this one to include metric. Below the ingredients you’ll see the option in blue writing and can click on “metric.”
Many thanks. I really appreciate it. :)
I finally made a Zwetschenkuchen and this recipe is wonderful; definitely a keeper. Ran out of plums so I added apples to complete. Tastes great as well, especially with the crumbs. Do you have any experiences with freezing this cake? Can make a few cakes and freeze for later! Thanks for sharing this recipe. Monika
Wonderful, Monika! Yes, you can freeze it and then let it thaw at room temperature. However, just know that the streusel will likely lost its crunch, if that’s important to you.
I made this today exactly as written. It turned out fabulous! This cake is a must try.
Wonderful, Sabine, I’m thrilled to hear that, thank you!
For some reason i cannot work with yeast. 100% failures. Would you have a Zwetchgen Kuchen recipe using a different cake recipe. I would love you forever.
Hi Greta, I don’t have one at the moment, sorry. BUT I really think you should give the yeast dough another try!! :)
Thank you so much for the recipe, Kimberly
I can hardly wait for the weekend to make the Kuchen. My mouth is already watering. This is quite a challenge for me, so keep your fingers crossed.
Thank you so very much
My fingers are crossed for you, Greta, and I wish you great success!
Try using the batter recipe from Dr. Oetker’s apple cake. My mom used to use this batter for this plum cake when she didn’t have enough time to wait for the yeast dough to rise, etc. I’m not good with yeast either, and my dough rose, but did not double in size and mine still turned out great. Like Kimberly said, give it another try.
What a great idea. I will definitely try it today. Many thanks!!!
Try this yeast dough recipe. The dough doesn’t need to rise before baking.
1/2 cup (125 ml) milk, 7 ounces (200g) butter, 3 1/2 cup (500g) all-purpose flour, 2 cubes fresh yeast, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup (160g) granulated sugar.
Dissolve the butter in warm milk on the stove (let it get warm, not hot)
Sift the flour into a bowl, make a hollow in the flour, add the butter-milk-mixture.
Add the yeast (breake it into crumbs) and the eggs and mix to a smooth dough.
Fill a bucket or the sink with cold water and place the dough in it (this is not a joke – it works)
Wait a few minutes until the dough starts to float in the water.
Take out the dough and mix in the sugar.
Spread the dough on the baking sheet (buttered). Lay out the plums or other fruit, add the streusel and bake for 30 min. at 350 degrees and than check every few minutes until the dough is golden.
I personaly like the dough soaked with the plum juices, so I prepare the plums and sugar them before I start with the dough. This also helps if the plums or not quiet ripe or very sour.
Apples in slices work fine or try peeled, cut and sugared rhubarb. Don’t forget the whipped cream on top.
If is was legal here, Zwetchgenwasser – Plum Brandy. My cousin’s husband in Pfullingen has a friend in B-W, Germany who has a distillers license and makes it from their Italian Plums out of their orchard. I suppose people here might call it Plum Schnapps.