Plum Coffee Cake

This plum coffee cake is a tender and fluffy sponge cake, packed with juicy and sweet plums. It’s quick and easy to make and a perfect treat to go along with a cup of coffee. 

plum coffee cake

Plums are wonderful to use in baking. The juicy plums add just the right amount of moisture and tartness to this sweet and tender cake. Whipping up eggs with sugar  gives  so  much lightness  to  the  cake  making  it  really fluffy and  airy.  The  sour  cream  is  a  great  addition,  making  the  cake  the  perfect  texture.

You can also use so many other fruit and berries in this cake instead of the plums. Peaches, apricots and nectarines are an excellent choice, because they are very similar in size and texture to plums. You can also use any kind of berries or a variation of berries in the cake. 

This cake has a very similar texture to Apple Sharlotka, so if you have apples, I have a family favorite recipe that you can try as well. 

Ingredients For Plum Coffee Cake:

Ingredients for Plum Coffee Cake

I love the simplicity of the ingredients for this cake. I have them on hand almost all the time, so I can whip up the cake any time I want to make a quick dessert, so we have unexpected company.

Eggs and granulated sugar – I use large eggs in all my baking. It is important that the eggs are at room temperature otherwise they won’t whip up as well and the cake will be much more flat.

Sour cream – the sour cream adds a bit of tartness as well as some rich creaminess to the batter. You can use plain yogurt instead of the sour cream as well. The sour cream also needs to be at room temperature for the best results. It will incorporate better into the batter if it’s at room temperature.

Lemon zest – lemon zest adds such a delightful flavor and aroma to the cake. It really brings the cake up an extra level.

All purpose flour and baking powder – It’s important to sift the flour and the baking powder together when adding it to the cake batter and carefully folding it in to keep the eggs that were whipped up in the batter from deflating as much as possible. This will keep the cake really tender, airy and fluffy.

Preparing the Plums For Baking:

slicing plums for baking

It’s really important to use ripe, sweet and juicy plums in the cake. If the plums aren’t ripe enough and are more on the tart side, this will effect the cake. They won’t get sweeter as they bake, so keep that in mind.

Cut the plums in half, removing the pit and then cut them into approximately 1/2 inch slices.

Like I mentioned, you can also use peaches, apricots or nectarines instead of the plums, preparing them exactly as you would the plums. You can also use any variety or berries. If the berries are small, like raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries or blueberries, add them in on top of the cake batter. You can also use pitted cherries or cut larger berries, like strawberries, in half or quarters.

Preparing the Cake:

Plum Coffee Cake Tutorial - sponge cake with plums
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. (You can line it with parchment paper if you’d like, which will make it easy to take out the cake out of the baking pan. I usually serve it right out of the baking sheet, so I skip the parchment paper.)
  • Remove the pits from the plums and slice the plums into 1/2 inch pieces.
  • Mix the eggs in a large bowl with a hand mixer or using a whisk attachment on a stand mixer, gradually pouring in the sugar. Mix for at least 5 minutes, until the eggs are pale yellow and fluffy.
  • Add the sour cream and lemon zest, mixing it into the batter to combine.
  • Use a fine mesh sieve to sift the flour and baking powder over the batter. Very carefully fold it into the egg mixture, trying not to deflate the eggs as much as possible.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Top with the prepared plums. Most of the plums will get covered with the batter.
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes.
Plum Coffee Cake in a baking sheet, ready to be served
  • Cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing the cake to serve. If you used the parchment paper, invert the coffee cake onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper.
  • Store the cake at room temperature, covered lightly with a clean kitchen towel, for 1-2 days. It is best served the same day.
Print

Plum Coffee Cake

Print Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.8 from 6 reviews

This plum coffee cake is a tender and fluffy sponge cake, packed with juicy and sweet plums. It’s quick and easy to make and a perfect treat to go along with a cup of coffee. 

  • Author: Olga’s Flavor Factory
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 40 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: 8–10 1x
  • Category: Sweets

Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 medium plums, pitted and slide into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 5 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use butter or oil to grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. 
  2. Cut each plum into 1/2 inch thick slices. Set aside.
  3. In a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or using a hand mixer, mix the eggs, gradually adding the sugar until pale and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.
  4. Add the sour cream and lemon zest; mix to combine.
  5. Sift the flour and baking powder over the batter and carefully fold it into the egg mixture, trying not to deflate the eggs as much as possible.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
  7. Top with the prepared plums. As you arrange the plums on top of the batter, some of them will become submerged in the batter and some may stay more towards the top of the batter.
  8. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, until the cake is completely baked through in the center. I use a wooden skewer to check for doneness. It should come out completely clean, with no batter on the skewer. 
  9. Cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving. 
  10. Store the cake at room temperature, covered slightly with a clean kitchen towel, for 1-2 days. 

Notes

If you want to take the cake out of the baking pan, line it with parchment paper before pouring the batter into the baking pan. 

Instead of plums, you can also use sliced nectarines or peaches, also cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. You can also use berries. 

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can’t wait to see what you’ve made!

This is an updated version of the Plum Coffee Cake recipe that was published originally on March 20, 2013. I have updated the pictures and clarified the instructions, but the recipe is still the same. Enjoy!

IMG_0719 (550x362)

38 Comments

  • Oksana

    I am the same way Olga, I will pick a good coffee cake over cakes layered with creme. And I have been craving a good coffee cake, so thanks for this post, this cake looks absolutely marvelous! Actually everything you post looks marvelous 🙂

  • Alla

    Olga, I made this coffeecake this week with white whole wheat flour instead. It was great.. I am with you, perfect coffee side or breakfast, yum! Loved the juicy plums in it. Thanks !!!! 🙂

    • olgak7

      Ha ha! Good one Marina:).
      Coffee cakes are actually moist and tender cakes that are served with coffee or tea.
      Coffee flavored cake would be really yummy though. I would probably make it with chocolate. Chocolate coffee cake sounds delicious.

  • Olga

    I made this plum coffee cake last night (3 plums and 4 nectarines is what I had on hand) and it turned out so tasty! Simple recipe yet so full of flavor. By the way, I only have a third of this cake left and it hasn’t been even 24 hrs. Ooops! Thanks for another great recipe.

  • Yelena

    Hi Olga,
    the cake is in the oven and I can’t wait for it to be ready. One question.. on the picture the batter looks white and mine is yellow, do you know why? Is it the eggs?

  • Liliya A

    Hi Olga,

    Can I use dried fruit instead of fresh? What do you think? I bought it from Costco and the fruit is super soft. It’s delicious.

    • olgak7

      I wouldn’t recommend it, Liliya. Although it would work out fine, the taste and texture will be completely different. As the fresh fruit bakes it becomes so0 soft and juicy. You just cant get the same results with dry fruit. Although, it would still taste good. It’s up to you.

  • Ilona

    Hi Olga,
    If the plums I have are really ripe and mushy and I’m not even sure if I’m able to cut them – they’ll just fall apart – will it work or is it too late?
    Thank you!

  • Rita Camilo

    I made this cake with nectarines a couple of weeks ago, with plain yogurt. It was delicious, not too sweet, more of a breakfast option if one likes their desserts on the sweeter side. Now, I hope I can find nice and ripe plums and I’ll try it again. Thank you for this recipe 🙂



  • Eve

    I made this to share at a dinner with friends earlier this week, and it had such a light, lovely texture and wasn’t too sweet. Even the people who don’t like sweet desserts enjoyed it! I loved how simple it was to make – plus, the technique of whipping the eggs and sugar worked so well to keep it airy. I used Italian plums, since that’s what I had on hand. My only change in the recipe was to leave out the lemon zest (because I didn’t have a lemon); instead I added some vanilla extract and some coarsely ground cardamom, because I love cardamom in pastries! It added a nice flavor profile.



    • Maire Nelligan

      I just pulled this out of the oven, it looks and smells wonderful, now I just have to wait for it to cool down enough to cut. My fingers are crossed, as I am on an ultra low salt diet and so I used no sodium baking powder a little over twice as much (it calls for twice as much as a recipe says, but that wasn’t quite enough in the first thing I made which was cornbread). I have to learn to bake all over again.

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get Weekly Menu Ideas, Recipes, Kitchen Hacks:

Join thousands of others to get my best cooking and meal prep tips plus handpicked seasonal menu ideas in your email.