Plum Cake

This is my most favorite cake! Every year I can't wait for the plums to be ripe!

Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose white flour
1 1/2 pck. dry yeast
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk, lukewarm
1/3 cup butter, unsalted and melted, lukewarm
1 pinch salt

3 1/3 lbs Damson plums (you can use any other kind not too juicy but rather slightly tart plums)

This is calculated for a baking tray of 11 3/4 x 15 inches.

How-To:
1. Melt butter and heat milk. Set both aside until lukewarm.

2. Mix flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a bowl.

3. Pour in milk and butter.

4. Using your mixer with the dough hooks, beat the dough until it comes together in a soft and wobbly mass. If its too dry you might need to add a bit more milk. Though it should not stick to the side of the bowl anymore either. The kneading might take a while :) Though you can use your bread maker for this part too.

5. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place until doubled in volume. This might take up to an hour.

6. Meanwhile prepare the plums. Cut lengthwise and pit them. Cut the still connected plum halves once again lengthwise, but do not cut through. You should have a depitted plum that you can easily flatten.

7. Remove dough from bowl and knead once or twice until soft again. Roll out on baking pan using a floured rolling pin. The dough should not be too thick since it will rise again while baking. Along the sides of the baking tray form a border with yeast dough.

8. Place plums in an upright manner trying to squeeze in as many as possible and press slightly into dough. Let rise again for 15 min.

9. Preheat oven to 425F or 220C°

10. Bake the plum cake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 min.

11. Meanwhile mix sugar and ground cinnamon for topping.

12. Remove plum cake from oven and sprinkle with the sugar-cinnamon mixture. This has to be done while the cake is still hot and will cause the plums to release theire juices. Don't worry about the dough getting soggy- thats the best part of it :)


13. Cut in pieces and serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

*Note: The yeast dough takes quite a while in preperation compared to other doughs, but trust me its worth the wait.
*Note: Yeast dough sometimes doesn't turn out the way its supposed to. When the yeast is kinda old or wasn't stored the right way, the dough won't rise as much as its supposed to. So you might not have enough dough for the whole tray- well then just use a smaller one :)