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!
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!
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.
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.
Make the cake:
Combine eggs, sugar, and butter together and mix 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.
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.
More Coffee Cake recipes:
- Poppyseed Cake with Lemon Glaze – Simple cake with poppy seed topped with a lemon glaze.
- Quick Apple Cake – The best apple cake recipe.
- Lemon Loaf Cake – Lemon cake recipe topped with a delicious creamy powdered sugar lemon glaze.
Pillow Soft Plum Coffee Cake
A soft and fluffy coffee cake made with homemade plums and a delicious streusel topping.
Ingredients
Coffee Cake
- 2 cups flour all purpose
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup melted butter 2 sticks
- 1 1/2 cup sugar granulated
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 cups plums cut to 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp almond extract (optional)
Instructions
-
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 -
-
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:
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
- This recipe makes either one 9x12in' or two 8-inch round Plum Coffee Cakes.
- To make ONE 8x3 inch round baking pan with a removable bottom, or an 8x3 inch springform pan use only half (1/2) the recipe listed.
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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?
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!
Thank you, Valentina! Glad you liked it!
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!!
Hi,
Yes you can. You can even insert halved plums sideways in rows.
Hope you enjoy this cake!
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.
Thanks Nadia for such wonderful review! Powdered sugar is like magic, it makes everything look even more appetizing and amazing, doesn’t it?
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!
That’s great Alena! Thanks for the tip about the almond flour. I bet it was even more delicious with the almond flour!
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!
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!
Is there anything I can substitute for baking soda?
Just put 2 teaspoons of the baking powder instead.
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!
Thank you Marina for your reply, I greatly appreciated it! Will let you know how the coffee cake turns out! I am so excited!
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!
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 🙂
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!!!
Oh that’s awesome to hear Oksana! Thanks so much for your feedback!
This looks sooooo good, I had to share, and now I need to go find plums so I can make it 🙂
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.
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!
Спасибо Юлия за твои теплые слова 🙂 Я очень рада что вам понравилось! Если что, то яблоки или любые ягоды тоже хороши в этом пироге 🙂
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.
Good eye Cassie! Thanks! I’ll go add it now 🙂
Your coffee cake looks so moist and I loved the addition of plums and the toppings. Yum!
This coffee cake looks so delicious Msrina! Our plums are not ready to harvest yet. Can’t wait to try this one. 😉
I am still secretly envious of your garden)))