Italian Plum Coffee Cake Makes The Sweetest Mid-Afternoon Treat

Half the fun of coffee cake is the texture: a dense, moist cake with a crunchy layer of sweet crumb topping. Here, we’ve one-upped the classic by adding a layer of almost jam-like cooked plums. 

Italian Plum Coffee Cake

Yield: 1 8- or 9-inch cake
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup organic unbleached sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, almond flour, or gluten-free all-purpose flour mix

Cake

1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour mix
1/2 cup organic unbleached sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 4 pieces
5 to 6 Italian plums, sliced

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray an 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan with nonstick spray.

To make the crumb topping, whisk together brown sugar, unbleached sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt into melted butter in a large bowl until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula. It will come together as a solid dough. Press together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of yogurt mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Add remaining yogurt mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and arrange plum slices over to fully cover top. Using your hands, break topping mixture into large crumbs and sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Photo credit: Paul Delmont