Zwetschgendatschi mit Streuseln- German sugar plum cake

Did I mention how much I love plums? All sorts of plums. Sugar plums are my absolute favourite, they look so beautiful and somehow taste less sour but aren't as sweet either, if that makes sense? Sugar plums (Zwetschgen) in Germany are used to make Zwetschgendatschi which even for me as a German sounds funny and I started to research its old-fashioned name.

Unfortunately but also quite often with old terms there are different explanation about the orign
of the name. One of these is that the word is derived from the old dialect term “Datsche” –
the country house in which these cakes were mainly baked in earlier times. The other traces it
back to the South German dialect word “detschen, datschen” (to press flat).
Unfortunately, nowadays no one knows for certain what the actual origin of the word is.

The good thing is, it is still served and eaten every year by almost every German at the beginning of Autumn after their harvest. Every bakery will offer them baked on a tray on a yeast dough sprinkled with cinnamon streusel. It's a very basic cake - no "schnick-schnack", that is best eaten still slightly warm with a generous dollop of whipped cream - it's so good!
 
I still remember last time I was in Germany around that time in Cologne to visit my good friend Katha. We went to a very old-fashioned cafe, which is called Konditorei Wahlen where we had our afternoon tea or "Kaffee and Kuchen", as we say in German. I am usually not a big fan of whipped cream but it's a must with Zwetschgendatschi. I loved that afternoon and I am always thinking of it when I make my plum cake at home.

Recipe for Zwetschgendatchi (German sugar plum cake with streusel)

(This recipe makes enough for an oven tray or two round pizza trays)

500 g plain flour
a pinch salt
80 g sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 (7 g) sachet dried yeast
125 ml lukewarm milk
100 g butter, softened
2 eggs

Topping:
1,2 kg sugar plums, halved lengthwise and pitted

Streusel:
150 g plain flour
80 g brown sugar
80 g melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground

1. Sieve flour in a large bowl. Add salt, sugar and lemon zest and mix together. Make a well in the centre and add yeast and lukewarm milk and stir with a little of the flour. Cover with a clean tea towel and let sit in a warm place until bubbles appear.
2. Add butter and eggs and with the dough hook knead the dough until smooth and elastic.
3. Cover and rest in the bowl in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and place on baking or pizza tray. Top with sugar plums starting along the edges and moving inwards, plums slightly overlapping.
5. To make the streusel, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hands until it just comes together. Sprinkle over the plums.
6 Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Serve still slightly warm with dollops of whipped cream. 

Plum cake with streusel

To be honest I am still confused sometimes with what is in season when. Plums are already turning up at the grocery stores and I thought it's still summer.

Well, the weather has been more on the autumn side anyway so I guess it makes sense in a way to have plums now. I love plums and although there is a wide variety available here in Sydney I do miss what we call "Zwetschge" in Germany. It translates into damson plum and I have seen it at some farmers markets but only rarely. The damson (fruit) is identified by its dark blue skin, oval shape (though slightly pointed at one end) and smooth-textured yellow flesh.
In Germany we use it to make the very popular Zwetschgendatschi (plum cake with yeast dough)
and Pflaumenmus (very dark plum jam) which then gets used in Germknoedel (steamed sweet dumplings). I'll definetely be on the hunt for damsons plums next time I go to the market.

Never mind, I love them all and made my first plum cake for this season on the weekend.
To give it a bit of a twist I added thyme to it and that goes very well together. Streusel are
a must on a German-style cake and so good paired with sour plums.

From this...

to this!

Recipe for plum cake:

850 g plums
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon picked thyme leaves
100 g sugar

200 g butter, softened
200 g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150 g wholemeal flour
100 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Streusel:
100 g brown sugar
150 g plain flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
80 g butter, melted

1. Cut plums into small wedges. Place plums, lemon juice, thyme and sugar in a saucepan and let sit for 20 minutes. Over medium-low heat cook plums for 20 minutes until plums are soft and sauce has slightly thickened. Set aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile make cake batter. Whisk butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add vanilla and beat until combined. Mix together both flours and baking powder and add to butter-sugar mix. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
3.  For the streusel, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add melted butter in a thin stream then use a fork to clump batter together.
4. Line a deep baking tray (32 x 25 cm) with baking paper and spread batter evenly. Pour plum sauce over and spread evenly.
5. Sprinkle with streusel and bake in preheated oven for 45 min or until cooked and the streusel are lightly golden.
Let cool a little before slicing into pieces. Serve with whipped cream or Greek-style yoghurt.