I love stone fruits in my cakes, yes and they are good. In my grocery store, Plums are on sale at 88 cents per pound. Who can resist that, and I decided to buy some? Then I tried this plum cake with ginger and cardamom. This recipe is adapted from gingery plum cake recipe from Fine cooking Magazine.
In my home town Kerala, sweet pudding always accompanies dry ginger and cardamom. I love the intoxicating, floral aroma of cardamom. There are two types of cardamom, green pods are used in sweet dishes where as black pods are used in Savory dishes. First you need remove the seeds and smash/chop them with a chef’s knife/ motor and pestle to get the freshest flavor (there’s no comparison to the dusty pre-ground stuff you can buy in the store). I incorporated it in the cake. Trust me every bite you are going to love it. I have added cardamom in the cake may be next time I will add it to topping also. Yes, when it comes to certain spices, I go a little overboard. Don’t worry you will love it.
Serve this hearty fruit cake with a dollop of whip cream or ice-cream. This recipe will work with any stone fruits. If you want, you can make this cake into upside down cake too. I prefer this way, while baking the plum gets caramelized leaving a nice taste on each bite. Since this cake uses only brown sugar you can get molasses flavor as you know marriage between ginger and molasses is a must, yes and they are an inevitable pair.
When I started making the cake I thought since it has both dry ginger and fresh ginger and my daughter will not like it but turned out that she also fell in love with it and even asked me to make more. I gave a sample of this cake to two of my friends, they also told me it is delicious.
If you like fruit cake without any frosting, filling or fondant, try this one and you will love it. After all simple is best.
Plum cake with Ginger and Cardamom
Ingredients
- 1-⅓ cup 172g unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pan
- 1 teaspoon /1g ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon 9 pods green cardamom, removed skin and crushed fine
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. table salt
- 6 tbsp. 84g unsalted butter at room temperature; more for the pan
- 1 cup 207g packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup 156g sour cream
- For the topping:
- 2 plum halved, pitted, and cut into ⅛- to ¼-inch slices
- 2 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger
- 3 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 Tbs. unbleached all-purpose flour
- Whipped cream for garnish
Instructions
- Pre heat the e oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9×2-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with a parchment circle cut to fit the pan and lightly flour the sides, tapping out the excess.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, ground ginger, cardamom, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment /with a hand mixer. Beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until well blended and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on medium speed until just blended and adding the vanilla with the second egg. Using a wide rubber spatula, fold in half the dry ingredients, then the sour cream, and then the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the topping: combine the sliced fruit in a small bowl. Add ginger, sugar and flour. Using a table fork, mix the ingredients to coat the fruit evenly. After the cake has baked for 15 minutes, scatter the topping evenly over the cake, working quickly. Continue baking until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, another 35 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, with whipped cream if you like.
Nutrition
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This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Mommy Peach says
This sounds and looks like such a delicious cake and it sounds like it would smell so good!
Alexandra Cook says
Oh man now this looks like my kind of dessert! I would love to dig into this cake!
Jo says
The flavors in this cake are so warm and comforting. I looks delicious! Love plums in all forms.
Jennifer A Tanney says
This looks beautiful and so yummy. Cinnamon and plums are a great combination. I bet it would be perfect as a dessert for Easter.
Jagruti Dhanecha says
This plum cake with ginger sounds yum, I would love to have it for my afternoon tea.
Samantha says
Looks so yum! My uncle would love this!
LiveLoveAndAdventure says
This cake looks ah-mazing! the recipe looks like it would be easy to make, also. I can't wait to try it!!
Natalie says
This cake looks gorgeous. I absolutely love the addition of spicy ginger and fragrant cardamom. I only recently discovered cardamom and instantly fell in love with this spice. I must give this cake a try. As soon as plums come to market. Saving this recipe.
Krysten Quiles says
Oh my goodness this looks and sounds AMAZING. I bet it would really wow at a get together.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
That cake looks so delicious and what a great idea is it to use plums. I love the flavor of freshly ground cardamom.
Shubh says
I knew about plum pastries. Good to see the plum cake recipe. I have never tasted plum pastries and cake.I wonder how it will taste. I need to bring the plums and try this out.
Holly Lasha says
Ok so this looks absolutely delicious. I love plum cake. It's just the right amount of sweet!!! I definitely need to try this recipe!
Danica says
What an awesome looking recipe. I love plums. I always seem to buy way more than we can eat before they get too soft. This is probably a good way to use them up! I'll check back in once I try this recipe.
Sarah Bailey says
Now this sounds like an absolutely amazing cake! I bet it tastes amazing, I could do with some plum cake!
Danielle Wolter says
this sounds incredible. i can almost taste it from here. great way to use all these plums!
TheVirginiaNymph says
The presentation is simply beautiful. And just the mere thought of all of those lovely ingredients mulling around with the cardamom has my mouth watering!
brie says
This looks like a very easy to make recipe and super tasty. Thanks for sharing it, I'll be sure to save it.
Tara Pittman says
My youngest loves plums. I need to make this cake for him.
Kittyslifeblog says
Wow that looks yummm... I would definitely try this recipe 😃👍🏼
Joan says
This.isnso beautiful. I have never baked.with plum just because my son claims he doesn't like them yet he has never tried them lol. I will be giving this a try.