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Plum Crumble Cake

Prep
5 min
Bake
45 min
Total
50 min
Makes
12 slices

Ingredients

Crumble dough

  • 2 sticks plus 2 tbsp250 gunsalted buttersoftened. German butter is unsalted and has about 82 percent fat. In the US use unsalted butter (European-style unsalted butter is closest); in the UK, unsalted butter.
  • 1 cup plus 1 tbsp220 ggranulated sugar
  • 2 tspvanilla sugar1 packet = 2 tsp (8 g). Sugar flavored with vanillin (artificial vanilla), sold in small packets of about 8 g. In the US use 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 2 tsp sugar for each 8 g packet; in the UK, vanilla sugar sachets, or 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 2 tsp sugar per sachet.
  • 1 pinchsalt
  • 1 pinchground cinnamonoptional
  • 3 ⅔ cups450 gall-purpose flourIn German recipes plain flour means soft wheat flour Type 405 unless stated otherwise. In the US use all-purpose flour; in the UK, plain flour.
  • ½ cup50 ghazelnutsground

You will also need

  • 1 pinchbaking powderoptional. German baking powder is sold in 15 g packets, each meant for about 500 g (4 cups) of flour. In the US and the UK use baking powder, 1 tbsp plus ¾ tsp per 15 g packet.
  • 12 oz350 gplum butterA thick, dark spread of slowly cooked plums. In the US use plum butter or prune lekvar; in the UK, powidła (Polish plum butter), or a thick plum jam.
  • Italian prune plumsfresh. Small, oval, firm plums that keep their shape when baked. In the US use Italian prune plums (late summer); in the UK, Italian or prune plums (sometimes sold as Zwetschgen), otherwise firm, slightly underripe plums.
  • powdered sugarfor dusting. Very finely ground sugar for icings and dusting. In the US use powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar); in the UK, icing sugar.

Method

Crumble dough

  1. Stir together the butter, sugar, salt, cinnamon & vanilla sugar, but don't beat until fluffy.

  2. Add the flour & hazelnuts and work everything into crumbles.

  3. If you like, add the baking powder to the dry ingredients as well.

  4. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) convection (fan).

  5. Put about ⅔ of the crumble into a springform pan and press it onto the bottom and up the sides.

  6. Either wash and pit the plums and lay them in halves on the base, or spread the plum butter over the base. In either case, cover with the remaining ⅓ of the crumble.

  7. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until everything is golden and smells wonderful, then let it cool in the pan.

  8. Dust with powdered sugar if you like.

From German Pastry Chef. Full recipe with photos: germanpastrychef.com/recipes/plum-crumble-cake/