This is the cake to make those beautiful plums shine. Moist, yet light cardamom buttermilk cake with a thick layer of rich plums. Best served with an additional dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkle of pistachios for luck. This was one of those you make perfect the first time cakes and that you then struggle to replicate on the next time baking. I initally made this cake from half baked harvest’s brown butter plum up-side down yogurt cake which is absolutely delicious but this one I have since edited quite a bit to suit my preferences.
Tips for plum topping perfection
Use black plums. I excitedly used the plums from our plum tree to make this cake and while it was delicious our what I think are sugar plums did not produce that beautiful pink topping. That fuchsia colour comes from the skin of black plums.
First and foremost use a round cake pan without a removable base, so springform is out. Yes I tried this once when we were in the middle of our house move and it was the only cake pan I still had available. The bottom of my oven did not appreciate that one. The plum juice will leak out!
The next most important thing is to use a cake pan with slightly raised edges, I can’t find an official name for them, but the ones which are a bit wider at the top than the bottom. This I have found is very very important to getting that beautiful plum pattern to all stay in place. If you use a straight edge cake pan it will work but I have found that as the cake shrinks a bit after baking the plums end up larger than the bottom resulting in a top heavy cake that spills out a little. The raised edges work perfectly to prevent this from happening. They are pretty easy pans to find if you don’t have one, I picked up a cheap one at our grocery store.
The last important thing is don’t be impatient and wait for the cake to cool enough before turning upside down. It needs to still be slightly warm so that the plums loosen from the top, about 20mins after baking seems to be the sweet spot. Sometimes there are a couple of plums stuck on top of the pan you can just carefully put them back in their proper place.
Upside Down Plum Cake
Ingredients
6 black plums
2 tbsp butter, melted
dry
128g (1 cup) all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cardamom
pinch of salt
92g unsalted butter
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
180g (3/4 cup) buttermilk
2 eggs, whites seperated from yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
zest of half a lemon
to serve
1/4 cup pistachios
yoghurt
Instructions
Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan and place on a baking sheet. Please see tips above for the best kind of cake pan to use.
Cut the plums into thick slices. Sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of the cake pan and arrange the plums on the bottom in a single layer. Melt the butter and pour over the plums. Bake in the oven for 10 mins.
In a bowl or stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Separate the egg yolks from the whites and add the yolks one at a time till fully combined. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, lemon zest and mix till fully combined. In a bowl whisk all the dry ingredients together. In a seperate bowl whisk the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together till just combined. Then slowly fold the egg whites into the batter until just combined.
Pour the batter over the plums and bake until the the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Begin checking for doneness at 30mins. Let the cake cool slightly, then place a serving plate over the top and carefully turn over so the plums are on top.
Best served with yoghurt and a sprinkle of pistachios.
Looks beautiful! Two quick questions— do you need a spring form pan? What kind of yogurt do you recommend?
Hey Francesca! No you don’t need one, I just used a normal cake pan, greased it and it comes out very easily. I like to use greek yoghurt, but I’m sure any plain yoghurt would work well with it. Hope you enjoy x
Can you tell me how many cups of plums you use? I have plum trees but the plums are much smaller than the grocery store variety. Looks delicious!
Hi Susan! I would take a guess that it would be about 2 cups of plums (I haven’t tested it) but I would suggest just slicing the plums you have into thick slices and using as many that line the bottom of the pan. Hope it turns out well!