Staying in Bangalore, I have always had the pleasure of savoring delicious plum cake during the year-end holidays at least once. Due the pandemic this year, I could not meet any friends or colleagues who are my usual suppliers of the plum cake. Hence, I have tried making this at home this time.
Plum cake is usually referred to cakes made of dried or fresh fruit. Plums are not actually used in the preparation of plum cake and this is something I learned after viewing a lot of recipes none of which used plums. The original plum cake is usually prepared with the berries soaked in wine or rum for over a year. I have used the recipe from Hebbar's kitchen which is egg-less, alcohol free and didn't take an year of soaking!
It takes about one and a half hours to prepare once the berries have been soaked overnight.
Ingredients:
For Soaking dry fruits:
Dates - 100 g (chopped)
Raisins - 100 g
Tutti frutti - 100g (mixed colours)
Mixed berries - 200g
Fig - 100g (chopped)
Apricot - 50g (chopped)
Grape juice - 200 ml
For cake batter:
Butter - 250g
Brown sugar - 300g
Oil - 50g
Curd - 130g
Maida - 300g
Almond powder - 50g
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Clove powder - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
Pistachios -2 tbsp (chopped)
Cherry - 2 tbsp (chopped)
Cashew nuts- 2 tbsp (chopped)
Method:
In a jar add dates, raisins, tutti frutti, mixed berries, fig and apricot. I have used blue berries and cranberries here for mixed berries. Mix well and soak in grape juice for at least 8 hours or until the dried fruits absorb all the juice.
In a large bowl add butter and brown sugar. Beat well until the butter and sugar turn creamy. if you do not access to brown sugar then use white sugar. Adding brown sugar makes cakes moist and gives good color. Now add oil and curd. Continue to beat until the mixture turns creamy like frosting. Next add maida, almond powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, clove powder and cinnamon powder. Using a spatula, mix using cut and fold method. Now add soaked dried fruits. Make sure the dried fruits have absorbed all the juice, else drain off the juice and add the fruits. Add pistachios, cherry and cashew nuts. Mix gently making sure the dried fruits are well combined. Transfer the fruit cake batter to a cake tin. Make sure to line a butter paper at the bottom to prevent from sticking. Tap twice to level up uniformly and remove any air bubbles if present. Place the cake pan into the preheated oven and bake at 180°C for 1 hour.
Enjoy the plum cake in this festive season and let me know how it came out.
Happy New year!!
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