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Pillow Soft Plum Coffee Cake

Pillow-soft Plum Coffee Cake – you will make this cake over, and over, and over again! The cake is fluffy, the plums give the cake a bit of tang, while the streusel topping gives it crunch. Perfect combo all around!
Soft pillow Plum Coffee Cake on a decorative plate topped with a streusel topping.
Kids are back in school and I am savoring every single second of the 3 week break between my school semesters. While I thoroughly enjoy school, not having due dates to fulfill really makes me appreciate all the free time I have right now.  That, and the bucket of plums I was generously gifted by my parents just begged for me to get into the kitchen and bake a good coffee cake.

You know, moist, fluffy, with fruits speckled throughout – everything a coffee cake should be, and this one is all of that and more!

Coffee cake in a casserole dish with two glasses of milk with straws.

As I was tweaking my Blueberry Muffin cake (I told you it’s versatile!) recipe, I was thinking just how much I love recipes like this. Don’t have yogurt but have sour cream? No problem! Want to use butter instead of oil? Sure! Plums are in season and you want to bake something? Go for it! Stone fruits are good to eat on their own, with all the fiber they’re packed with, but Coffee Cakes especially appreciate the plums’ tartness when baked.

A slice of soft plum coffee cake on a plate next to a cup of milk and plums.

Using the sour cream instead of milk in the cake leaves the crumb very white, not yellow and for whatever reason, I really like that.
By the way, this is one of those recipes that even if you have not baked a thing in your life, it should still come out perfect 🙂

Pillow Soft Plum Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake Ingredients:

  • flour, all-purpose
  • baking powder
  • baking soda
  • salt
  • melted butter (2 sticks)
  • sugar, granulated
  • eggs
  • sour cream
  • plums, cut to 1/2 inch cubes

Streusel Topping Ingredients:

  • cold butter cut up
  • flour, all-purpose
  • sugar, granulated

How to Make:

Preheat oven to 350F. Place rack in the middle. Spray a 9×12 baking dish with a nonstick spray, or butter the form, sprinkle with flour and shake out the excess.

Make the streusel topping:

Combine butter, sugar and flour and pulse until crumbly and pea size or smaller crumbs form. Alternatively, use a fork to achieve the same result. Set aside.

How to make the homemade streusel topping for this easy coffee cake.

Make the cake:

Combine eggs, sugar, and butter together and mix until thoroughly combined.

How to combine eggs, sugar, and butter until thoroughly combined.

Add sour cream and stir until smooth again. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and stir again with the minimal amount of strokes.

How to combine sour cream into previous mixture and add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and stir.

Add cut up plums and gently fold everything together. Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle with streusel topping. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot with a scoop of ice-cream or cold,  sliced into squares.

How to make this plum coffee cake recipe.

More Coffee Cake recipes:

Pillow Soft Plum Coffee Cake

4.84 from 6 votes

A soft and fluffy coffee cake made with homemade plums and a delicious streusel topping.

Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: plum coffee cake
Calories: 373 kcal
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes
Servings: 8 servings

Ingredients

Coffee Cake

Streusel Topping

  • 5 Tbsp butter melted, or cubed
  • 3/4 cup flour all-purpose
  • 1/2 cup sugar granulated

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place rack in the middle. Spray a 9x12 baking dish with a nonstick spray; OR butter the form, sprinkle with flour and shake out the excess.

Make the streusel topping -

  1. Combine 5 tbsp melted or room temperature cubed butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 3/4 cup flour and pulse until crumbly and pea size or smaller in size crumbs form. Alternatively use a fork to achieve the same result. Set aside.

Make the plum coffee cake:

  1. Combine 4 eggs, 1½ cups sugar and 1 cup melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla extract and/or 2 tsp almond extract together and mix until thoroughly combined.

  2. Add 1 cup sour cream and stir until smooth again. Add 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt and stir again with minimal amount of strokes.

  3. Add 4 cups cut up plums and gently fold everything together. Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle with streusel topping. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot with a scoop of ice-cream or cold, sliced into squares.

Recipe Notes

Nutrition Facts
Pillow Soft Plum Coffee Cake
Amount Per Serving (3 g)
Calories 373 Calories from Fat 171
% Daily Value*
Fat 19g29%
Saturated Fat 11g69%
Cholesterol 88mg29%
Sodium 273mg12%
Potassium 158mg5%
Carbohydrates 46g15%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 29g32%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 755IU15%
Vitamin C 4mg5%
Calcium 46mg5%
Iron 1.3mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Welcome to Let the Baking Begin! I'm Marina and my love and passion for eating only the most delicious foods drive me to share that love here on Let the Baking Begin (since 2009). With over 20 years of experience in the kitchen, you know the recipes are tested and retested until perfect. I'm so happy to have you here. Enjoy! Read more...

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  • Traci

    I used a 13×9 pan and had to bake a bit longer than the 45 minutes. My plums sunk to the bottom and the cake was a bit coarse. Good, but definitely couldn’t call it fluffy. Suggestions?

    · Reply
  • Valentina

    Delicious! I was at my cousins and she made it, I loved it, it disappeared in front of our eyes. I just had to make it the following week! Moist and fluffy and so good!

    · Reply
  • Holly

    Hello. I am wondering if I can just lay the plums on top like I do when I make a similar plum cake recipe with yeasted dough…or, do I need to mix them in the batter? Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try this one!!

    · Reply
  • Nadia

    This is one of our favorite desert dishes. It quick and easy. Can be done anytime of the day. My kids just love it. I sprinkle some powder sugar on top right after I take it out from oven and it enhances the crumble on top. I use any fruit I have, apples with cinnamon, peaches, frozen blueberries or mixture of everything. It’s good. Been doing it almost regularly. Thanks for a great recipe.

    · Reply
    • Thanks Nadia for such wonderful review! Powdered sugar is like magic, it makes everything look even more appetizing and amazing, doesn’t it?

      · Reply
  • Alena

    I made this cake the other day and took it to my parers house, everyone absolutely loved it! Not too sweet, just perfect. The only thing that I did different is that I used half of the given amount of regular flour and half of almond flour for the topping. Thank you for such a simple and tasty recipe!

    · Reply
    • That’s great Alena! Thanks for the tip about the almond flour. I bet it was even more delicious with the almond flour!

      · Reply
  • Janina

    I made this cake for my mother and it was just delicious! I did add vanilla to the cake and increased the amount of butter in the topping, as I light a chunky crumb topping. And next time I will increase the amount of crumb topping as well. This cake is keeper and I will be making it often. Thank you for this lovely cake recipe!

    · Reply
  • Tatyana

    Marina you are absolutely amazing! I made your coffee cake with streusel and it was yummy!!!! I couldn’t get enough and it lasted several days at my house, tasting just as fresh and moist as 1st day and I loved it!!! Thank you for another great recipe!!!!! I also wanted to let you know that I used 1/2 c sour cream and 1/2 buttermilk and it was yummy!!!!!!Thank you again!

    · Reply
  • Olya

    Is there anything I can substitute for baking soda?

    · Reply
    • Just put 2 teaspoons of the baking powder instead.

      · Reply
  • Mira L

    Hi Marina, I made this coffee cake (with a few changes ) and it turned out great! Thanks for the wonderful recipes you share with us!

    · Reply
  • Tatyana

    Thank you Marina for your reply, I greatly appreciated it! Will let you know how the coffee cake turns out! I am so excited!

    · Reply
  • Tatyana

    Marina, Your recipes are always amazing and pictures are just gorgeous. It’s like I can almost pick up a piece from my screen and eat it. I live in a very cold environment and when we get a supply of plums here, they taste nasty and plastic. Can you please suggest what kind of fruit can I substitute for plums? Thank you!

    · Reply
    • Hi Tatyana, thank you so much for such a sweet comment!
      You can substitute plums with: apricots, apples, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or any other berry for that matter. They can be fresh or frozen. If using frozen, do not let them thaw, just add then frozen and bake. Have a good day and good luck in your baking adventures 🙂

      · Reply
  • Oksana

    Made this delicious coffee cake this evening and everyone loved it! I too have parents with a plum tree and a plethora of plums I didn’t know what to do with. Definitely a repeat recipe. Thank you so much!!!

    · Reply
    • Oh that’s awesome to hear Oksana! Thanks so much for your feedback!

      · Reply
  • Sue/theviewfromgreatislands

    This looks sooooo good, I had to share, and now I need to go find plums so I can make it 🙂

    · Reply
    • Hi Sue! Thanks for sharing! You can use any fruit or berry you might have already 🙂 it works well with apples, peaches, apricots, or any kind of berry as well.

      · Reply
  • Julia

    Мариночка, я в восторге от этого пирога, домашним тоже очень понравился. Придеться наморозить слив чтоб можно было печь зимой ((: Спасибо что радуешь нас новыми рецептами, ты просто умничка!

    · Reply
    • Спасибо Юлия за твои теплые слова 🙂 Я очень рада что вам понравилось! Если что, то яблоки или любые ягоды тоже хороши в этом пироге 🙂

      · Reply
  • cassie

    in the instructions where u say add flour baking soda and baking powder, u forgot to write add salt, I’m sorry just a heads up.

    · Reply
    • Good eye Cassie! Thanks! I’ll go add it now 🙂

      · Reply
  • Your coffee cake looks so moist and I loved the addition of plums and the toppings. Yum!

    · Reply
  • valyastasteofhome

    This coffee cake looks so delicious Msrina! Our plums are not ready to harvest yet. Can’t wait to try this one. 😉

    · Reply
    • I am still secretly envious of your garden)))

      · Reply

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