flipPlum Sheet Cake (Pflaumenkuchen)
Plum Sheet Cake (Pflaumenkuchen)
Why this dish? The Sunday cake, shared at the coffee table when the Grimms receive guests. The garden plums, abundant at the end of summer, make the happiness of a household that counts its pennies: you roll out the dough, arrange the fruits like tiles, and await visitors.
A large thin tart on yeast dough, covered with tightly packed halved plums that caramelize and release their tangy juice, scented with cinnamon. The classic of the late-summer Kaffeetafel in Hesse.
Come Sunday, I set the coffee table and bring out my sheet: it's Pflaumenkuchen day! I spread my yeast dough flat with my palm to the edges, then I stand my plums upright, tightly packed like the cobblestones of a Kassel street, for they will melt and there must be no gaps. A pinch of cinnamon from my father's pharmacy, a cloud of honey, and the oven does the rest; the violet juice borders each fruit. Cut it still warm, while the chicory coffee steams, and you will see tongues loosen and old tales unfold.
- •Wheat flour — enough to fill the sheet (yeast dough)
- •Sourdough or baker's yeast — a little (leavening)
- •Warm milk — as needed (liquid)
- •Butter — a good knob (tenderness)
- •Honey — to taste (sweetener (sugar being rare))
- •Ripe garden plums — two large baskets (filling)
- •Cinnamon — a pinch (signature spice)
Plum Sheet Cake (Pflaumenkuchen)
A large thin tart on yeast dough, covered with tightly packed halved plums that caramelize and release their tangy juice, scented with cinnamon. The classic of the late-summer Kaffeetafel in Hesse.
Why this dish? The Sunday cake, shared at the coffee table when the Grimms receive guests. The garden plums, abundant at the end of summer, make the happiness of a household that counts its pennies: you roll out the dough, arrange the fruits like tiles, and await visitors.
Come Sunday, I set the coffee table and bring out my sheet: it's Pflaumenkuchen day! I spread my yeast dough flat with my palm to the edges, then I stand my plums upright, tightly packed like the cobblestones of a Kassel street, for they will melt and there must be no gaps. A pinch of cinnamon from my father's pharmacy, a cloud of honey, and the oven does the rest; the violet juice borders each fruit. Cut it still warm, while the chicory coffee steams, and you will see tongues loosen and old tales unfold.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wheat flour — enough to fill the sheet (yeast dough)
- Sourdough or baker's yeast — a little (leavening)
- Warm milk — as needed (liquid)
- Butter — a good knob (tenderness)
- Honey — to taste (sweetener (sugar being rare))
- Ripe garden plums — two large baskets (filling)
- Cinnamon — a pinch (signature spice)
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour — 350 g (yeast dough)
- Fresh baker's yeast — 15 g (leavening)
- Warm milk — 150 ml (liquid)
- Soft butter — 60 g (tenderness)
- Honey — 40 g (in dough) + a little for fruit (sweetener)
- Egg — 1 (binder)
- Plums — 1 kg (filling)
- Ground cinnamon — 1 tsp (signature spice)
- Sugar + cinnamon for sprinkling — 2 tbsp (finish)
Method
- Dissolve yeast in warm milk with a spoonful of honey; let foam for 10 min.
- Knead with flour, egg, remaining honey and butter into a soft dough. Let double in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Roll out dough on a buttered baking sheet. Pit the plums, open them without fully separating.
- Arrange them tightly, skin side down, over the entire dough. Let rest 20 min.
- Bake at 190°C for about 35–40 min, until edges are golden and juice bubbles.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar upon removal. Serve warm.
How it was made : Pflaumenkuchen on a sheet (Blechkuchen) is the popular cake of plum-growing regions in western and southern Germany. It was made at harvest time, on a yeast dough rather than a rich one, because butter and especially sugar were expensive; honey and cinnamon from the apothecary sufficed. Baked in the communal or family oven, it was eaten in the afternoon with coffee.
The contemporary twist : A spoonful of lightly sweetened vanilla quark beside the slice, like a cloud that softens the plums' acidity.
Henriette Dorothea Wild · Charactorium
