DAMSON PLUM CRUMBLE CAKE RECIPE
I wasn’t sure what to make with damson plums (apart from jam) but I improvised and made up a recipe for damson plum crumble cake this weekend.
This was the first time I made up my own recipe for a cake so I was slightly apprehensive about how it would turn out but it resulted in an absolutely delicious, moist, sweet cake.
INGREDIENTS:
500 grams damson plums (if you can’t source damsons, use a different type of plum, preferably purple-skinned plums)
100 grams butter
100 grams sugar (brown unrefined)
3 eggs
200 grams flour (I used white spelt flour but standard all-purpose flour would be fine)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2-3 tbsp milk
CRUMBLE TOPPING INGREDIENTS:
30 grams sugar
30 grams butter
56 grams flour
METHOD:
1: Wash the plums thoroughly and cut them in half, carefully removing all the stones.
2: Cream the butter and sugar together until they are thoroughly mixed and are light and fluffy. It helps if you remove the butter from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before you intend to use it as otherwise you’ll find that mixing it with the sugar is an arduous chore (good for the arm muscles though!)
3: Beat the eggs and gradually add them to the butter and sugar mix a little at a time, stirring thoroughly until they are mixed well.
4: In a separate bowl, stir the flour, cinnamon and baking powder together. Make a well in the center of the flour and gradually fold in the cake batter you have ready.
5: Add a splash of milk and stir (just a small amount; I didn’t bother measuring but it’s probably approx. 2-3 tablespoons)
6: Add approx. half of the plums into the cake batter and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared cake tin and level the top of the cake with a spoon.
7: Press the remaining damsons into the top of the cake.
8: Make the crumble topping by mixing together the flour and sugar. Add the butter and use your fingers to rub it into the flour.
9: Sprinkle the crumble topping over the cake and bake in a pre-heated oven for approx. 60 minutes. I baked it at 160 C/320 F but your oven may differ as convection oven temperatures have to be slightly reduced. There are varying schools of thought in terms of how much temperatures should be reduced but I have always been told to reduce the temperature by about 20 degrees. so if you are baking this in a standard oven, you should bake it at 180 C/340 F as you will need to raise the temperature by 20 degrees. As every oven varies, make sure you check the cake from time to time while it is cooking and reduce or increase the cooking time if necessary. You can tell when the cake is cooked by inserting a knife into the middle. If it comes out relatively clean, the cake is ready.
10: Enjoy your cake! It is delicious served with fresh strawberries, raspberries and crème fraîche. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on this post.
Just a question. Can. You freeze this cake successfully?
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I haven’t tried freezing it but I’d imagine that it would freeze pretty well. Try it and let me know how it goes!
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This looks and sounds very, very good!
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It is a very tasty cake! At the moment the recipe is getting a lot of hits. According to my blog stats, “damson plum crumble cake” seems to be a popular Google search at the moment. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
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I am going to make this today, my friend give me 3 big bags of damsons..looks lovely ..thanks for sharing! 🙂
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I hope you enjoy it! Let me know how you get on with the recipe. 🙂
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What size cake tin do I use?
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I used an 8 inch (20 cm) cake tin. I hope you enjoy the cake. Do let me know how it turns out. 🙂
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Just made this as our free is laden with damsons. Quite sharp, which damsons are, and I think the sweet crumble topping really helps with it. If making again, which I am sure I will, I would use more damsons and quarter them for the ones in the cake, but leave half for the top as it would distribute them more.
Thank you for the recipe 🙂
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Also, I did it 2/3 quantity in a 7 inch tin which worked
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Hi Polly, thanks for your comment. It’s lovely to get feedback and I like your idea of quartering the plums. The damsons I used when I made it were very small so I just halved them, but I guess it depends on the size of the fruit.
I’m glad you enjoyed the cake. 🙂
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Hi,
I just made a very similar cake using my grandmother’s recipe and our own homegrown damsons but unfortunately the damsons are really bitter – not sour, I don’t mind that, but bitter. Has this happened to anyone else? Are all damsons quite bitter and I’m just particularly sensitive? Our variety is Shropshire Prune and they tasted perfectly sweet and not bitter at all straight from the tree. Any advice?
Thanks, Juli
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Sorry, just posting again because I forgot to tick the notification box…
Hi,
I just made a very similar cake using my grandmother’s recipe and our own homegrown damsons but unfortunately the damsons are really bitter – not sour, I don’t mind that, but bitter. Has this happened to anyone else? Are all damsons quite bitter and I’m just particularly sensitive? Our variety is Shropshire Prune and they tasted perfectly sweet and not bitter at all straight from the tree. Any advice?
Thanks, Juli
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Hi Juli, I’m sorry to hear that. Damsons do have a tendency to become sour when they are cooked but I’m not sure why they would turn bitter. Did you remove all the stones before you cooked the damsons? Leaving them in could possibly result in a bitter taste.
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Hi have made your cake today as we were given a lot of damsons from our dear neighbour & didn’t want to waste them, it was a bit different from my usual recipes for cake but was absolutely wonderful, really different but in a very good way!, I may try this recipe with apples next time as stoning the damsons was quite time consuming, but worth it, delicious both hot & cold,will definitely be using this recipe very soon
Shazza
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Hi, thanks for your comment. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the cake! 🙂 I agree — stoning damsons is tedious, but the end result is tasty!
If you have a glut of apples, you might like this recipe for German apple cake. It’s very moist and simple to make. Here’s a link.
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I made this cake with the damsons left over from my damson gin. It was superb, even my OH who rarely comments said what a nice cake it was. It didn’t last too long!
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I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the cake. Thank you for your lovely comment. 🙂
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Made this today and it turned out great. Very tasty! Although my damsons were very sharp so baked them with some (a lot of) caster sugar before putting them in. Will need to adjust cooking temp for next time as I think 180 was too high for my oven. Thank you! I’ve struggled to find good recipes to use up my damsons in the past.
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Made this today and it turned out great. Very tasty! Although my damsons were very sharp so baked them with some (a lot of) caster sugar before putting them in. Will need to adjust cooking temp for next time as I think 180 was too high for my oven. Thank you! I’ve struggled to find good recipes to use up my damsons in the past.
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I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 Damsons can be very sharp; definitely wise to use plenty of sugar! Thank you for your comment.
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This looks gorgeous! I just made (2nd time) a plum crumble (not w damsons) for a party, and it was a huge hit. It’s dead easy and tastes great…it includes 6 tbsps of cassis.
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Thanks! It’s one of my most popular blog posts at this time of year. Lots of people searching for what to do with their glut of damsons, I think. Your plum crumble sounds delicious! 🙂
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It is! Dead easy — we bake and serve it in a deep Le Creuset casserole dish that was a wedding present.
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Yummy! 🙂 I’m looking forward to making apple crumble with the apples from the tree in the garden. They’re almost ready for picking.
I made a spiced apple loaf, and an Earl Grey banana and prune tea loaf, a couple of days ago. Delicious! I love cooking/baking. So disappointed that The Great British Bake-Off is leaving the BBC next year!
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The tea loaf sounds amazing — and how lucky you are to have apples right on the tree. It’s time for me to make a lemon loaf.
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