Yogurt Plum Cake

This Yogurt Plum Cake is incredibly tender and moist, and deliciously flavored with a bit of cardamom, then topped with juicy sweet plums that get perfectly soft as they bake. It’s a must make this plum season. 

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Step by step instructions
• Tips and tricks
• Types of plums
• Recipe variations
• Serving suggestions
• Storage
• FAQs
• More cake recipes
• 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

This easy plum cake comes together with some pretty standard cake ingredients, plus a special one or two.

• Plums: You’ll need 3-4 fresh plums for this recipe. You want slightly under-ripe ones for baking. They should be mostly firm, with a little give. If they are too ripe they will not hold up when baking, and if they are too under-ripe they won’t be sweet enough. 
• Oil: Any neutral oil works for this. I use canola oil, but you can also use vegetable oil or grapeseed oil. 
• Greek yogurt: whole milk / full fat plain yogurt is what you want for this recipe. 
• Sugar: Standard granulated sugar. 
• Eggs: Two large eggs. Ideally at room temperature.
• Vanilla: Either vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. 
• Cardamom: A little bit goes a long way. Cardamom is so good in baked goods, it is in the ginger family and has an almost citrusy flavor while still holding a good amount of spice. (not spice meaning spicy, spice in the same way that ginger has spice). 
• All purpose flour: Standard baking flour. Unbleached if you can find it. 
• Baking powder: The leavening agent. Check your expiration date!
• Kosher salt: Always a bit of salt to balance out the sweetness and awaken the flavors. 

Step by step instructions

Plums are my absolute favorite summer fruit – I could eat literally 3 a day. They are so juicy and delicious. So this cake is basically amazing because it’s more ways to eat plums. Even better, it comes together in just one bowl. 

Overview: whisk wet ingredients, fold in dry ingredients, transfer to prepared cake pan, top with plums, bake. 

1. Whisk the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. 

2. Fold in the dry ingredients. To the bowl, add the cardamom, flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix or fold together until just combined. It’s okay if there are some smaller lumps. 

3. Pour into pan and top with plums. Pour the cake batter into a prepared baking pan (lined with parchment paper, sprayed or buttered as needed). Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter into an even layer. Place the sliced plums in a circular pattern on top of the cake.

4. Bake. Pop the cake into a preheated 350°oven and bake for 50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out dry with only a few crumbles. 

Tips and tricks

A few little tricks for this recipe are below to help you make it the best it can be.

• Measuring ingredients: Measure dry ingredients for baking using a scale!! If you don’t have one, use the spoon and level method. Do not scoop your flour, you’ll get too much flour and it’ll be a dry cake.
• Use an oven thermometer: ovens are wildly unreliable in their temperature, and it's important to be as accurate as possible with baking. I recommend getting or using an over thermometer so you can ensure it's at the right temperature.
• To quickly get your eggs to room temperature: Fill a cup with room temperature/slightly warm water and submerge the eggs for 15 minutes. The chill on the eggs should be gone after this, and then you're good to go.
• The easiest way to slice a plum:
  • Slice inward with a pairing knife vertically until you hit the pit, then rotate the plum so the knife fully slices around the pit 
  • Twist the plum open and pull the pit out 
  • Cut the halves into 4 equal slices (so you’ll end up with 8 slices per plum)
• Cake pan type and size: I like to use a 9” round springform pan so there is plenty of surface area for plums and I can just pop the sides off and not have to worry about flipping the cake over to get it out of the pan. 
  • You can use an 8” round pan, just bake for a little longer. You can also use a square pan, either 8" or 9". 
• Lining a cake pan: I like to lightly spray the pan, and then line it with parchment paper higher up than the sides so you can pull it out.
• Coarse sugar: An optional step is to sprinkle a bit of coarse raw sugar (such as turbinado or demerara) on top before baking. This will give the cake an almost crust-like texture on top. It’s amazing. 

Types of plums

There are a variety of plums out there – they are most commonly categorized into red plums and black plums, and either works great for this recipe. 

If you’re looking for plums that have red flesh, look for Santa Rosa Plums or Blood Plums. These have a maroon/reddish skin (which can often be confused with black plums, but they are a little lighter). Interestingly, the plum called a red plum is redder on the skin, but the inside is typically more yellow. 

There are also these plum and apricot cross-fruits called plumcots / apriums and if you find them in your store you MUST use them. They are my favorite thing in the world. 

Recipe variations

• Use a mild flavored olive oil.
• Other stone fruit you could use: peaches, nectarines, etc. 
• You can remove or swap out the cardamom. If you want to swap, I’d recommend a bit of cinnamon or nutmeg. 
• Use almond extract in place of vanilla extract. 
• Add some lemon zest or orange zest. 
• Use sour cream in place of yogurt.

Serving suggestions

This cake is delicious as is, fresh out of the oven. But if you’d like, it’s great served with whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a dusting of powdered sugar (icing sugar). 

Storage

Yogurt plum cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, either tightly wrapped with plastic wrap or in an airtight container. 

You can also freeze this cake, although not ideal. Wrap it tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge and then warm in the microwave. 

Regardless of which method you use, let the cake cool completely before you store it. 

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