Plum Cake with Spiced Almond Crumble
This elegant plum cake, with a plush, sour cream-enriched crumb, uses Middle Eastern-inspired spicing—warming cardamom, cloves, allspice, and coriander. The sweet-tart fruit melds into the cake.
- Makes12 to 14 servings
- Cook Time1½ hours
- 3
In this adaptation of a recipe from the award-winning book “Suqar” by Greg and Lucy Malouf, wedges of sweet-tart fresh plums melt into a rich, buttery cake, the whole thing finished with a nutty brown sugar and spice crumble that complements the plush, tender crumb hiding just beneath. This fruit-forward cake is ideal for a weekend brunch, but special enough to serve as dessert after a summery meal. For prepping the baking pan or dish, we use baking spray, which is a mixture of oil and flour, to help guarantee that slices of the cake are easy to remove for serving. If you don’t have baking spray, butter the pan or dish, dust it with flour, then tap out the excess. Note that if you use a glass or ceramic baking dish rather than a metal pan, the baking times are slightly longer. If you like, dust the cake with powdered sugar just before serving, or spoon on a little whipped cream, gelato or ice cream.
Don’t leave the crumble mixture out at room temperature while you make the batter and for the first 25 to 30 minutes that the cake bakes. Freezing the topping and sprinkling it on midway through baking—as the recipe instructs—helps ensure it bakes up with a pleasantly pebbly, nubby texture and that it remains on the surface instead of sinking into the batter. Note that the butter for the crumble should be cool room temperature, but the butter for the cake must be at room temperature so it creams easily and yields a light, aerated batter.
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