Plum Cake Recipe

plum cake

Plum Cake Recipe submitted by Patjoy

I sent this recipe to The British Farm Council in the 1980’s (Are they still going?)

Ingredients for Plum Cake:

  • 5 oz butter
  • 5 oz caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 6 oz self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Juice of a small lemon
  • ½ lb plums
  • 1 oz sugar
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 heaped tablespoon ground almonds

Method for Plum Cake:

  1. Cream together  the butter and caster sugar. Add the eggs and sift in the flour. (Wholemeal is good ).
  2. Add the vanilla extract and zest and juice of the lemon.
  3. Fold all together – do not beat the flour in.
  4. Spoon in to a lined cake tin and bake for 15 minutes at Gas 5/375f /190c.

While that is happening (don’t forget to put your timer on):

  1. Wash and dry the plums,  cut them in ½ and remove the stones.
  2. In a polythene bag put the sugar, cinnamon and almonds.
  3. Throw the plums into the bag and shake well so the plums get a good coating of  the mixture.
  4. When the 15 mins is up, open the oven door carefully and ” throw ” the plums onto the cake – spread them out as much as possible .
  5. Now bake the cake for another 30 minutes  (or until it is cooked  – skewer test ).

Note: If you use wholemeal flour add 1 level tsp of baking powder.

This is lovely served hot or cold with Greek Yogurt and honey.

Posted in Fruit, Vegetarian Recipes, Cakes & Tarts, All Recipes, Plums Tagged with: , , , , ,
17 comments on “Plum Cake Recipe
  1. Diana Barton says:

    just made the plum cake, my husband and I have just tried it hot -mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm delish, now waiting for it to cool to see how that compares. I just have one grumble and that is I made this cake for visitors for tomorrow but now it seems that I have to make another one for them as we both been helping ourselves each time we find an excuse to go through the kitchen!!! so delicious. Thank you Diana

  2. Lizzy says:

    Hi I’m new to this site. Can I used wild plums that are in my freezer? As there are a lot on the ground each day I could ‘harvest’ some more!!

  3. Val says:

    I can’t see why not!

  4. Lizzy says:

    That’s great! thanks

  5. Lizzy, I too am lucky enough to have a very old “wild” Plum Tree . They are too bitter to eat? Mine are, so I freeze mine & in the winter, on a cold & rainy day I defrost them in a colander (overnight) & make Wild Plum Jelly . I cook them untill soft, then rub them thru a nylon seive (much easier than stoning them) A pound of sugar to each “pint” of fruit cook again very slow at 1st, then bring to the boil (as all JAM ) & you have a wonderfull rich deep tasting plum conserve> ( I also make plum liquer, with them & I’ve just made plum chutney using 3 types of plums, ie sweet , wild & damson’s. OH I always use fresh orange or lemon juice in all my preserves it helps jam to “set” & gives a sharp taste to chutney’s & pickle’s.

  6. Jo says:

    Can you freeze the cake once cooled was thinking of making a couple

  7. Betty Sharp says:

    Fresh plum cake is superb, but I have 1 question for you. Can I freeze this cake?

  8. Jo & Betty, I am not a ” Freezer” type cooking lady , so I really am unable to say , in truth, but , if you have any of Mary Berry ‘s Cook Books, she is THE one I always check out , if ever I need help!! ( No cake ever last’s long enough in our house , for me to be able to freeze anything!!)

  9. Liddo says:

    Too much Lemon!! Will try again without.

  10. Joanne says:

    I have picked some plums this morning they are only small but taste nice not very sweet but not bitter either. After searching the net for a recipe to use them in came accross this one as I had all the other ingredients in store cupboard thought I’d give it a go. It’s in the oven as I type it smells absolutely gorgeous can’t wait to try it. I’ve added a little twist though I prepared the fruit first and soaked them in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of dark rum and 1 of brown sugar, I drained them and dusted them in the bag with white sugar and cinnamon but no almonds.

  11. steven sparkes says:

    Made this cake, just taken out of oven, added cream tasted exceptional

  12. Jane Kerby says:

    This recipe sounds delicious but please can you tell me what size tin to use

  13. Sue says:

    Hi Patricia, I love the sound of your Plum Liquer, could you possibly post the recipe for this please as I have a glut of plums at the moment and have plenty of Jams, chutneys, cakes etc already and would like to try something new. Thanks, Sue
    @Patricia Stockham:

  14. sue t says:

    @Patricia Stockham:Hi can I have your recipe for plum liquer sounds great, I have so many plums I’m sick of making jam x

  15. peter says:

    I haven’t tried the cake yet, but looks and smells delicious! I think you should only cook it for 5 minutes at first, put the plums in and then cook it for 40 minutes. Before, I made a plum cake whith a simple sponge recipe and put the plums in without any cooking. That way the plums were more inside the cake. I baked it in a heart shaped tin, so it was hard to measure, but it was about 10cm x 10cm. Good luck to everybody making this recipe!

  16. Anne Jamieson says:

    I have just joined this site as given kilos of plums and promised to present something nice. Hence I found this site.
    I too would love the recipe for the liqueur. Also loved Joanne’s twist of adding rum ect .

  17. sheilajthompson@hotmail.com says:

    Lovely cake. Worked perfectly with the specified timings using a 20cm round tin on 170C fan. Had no ground almonds and so omitted but next time will try with the almonds. Great to find this website with wonderful recipes.

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