Plum cake for Christmas – with real Plums

Plum cake recipe without alcohol – Let’s say most of the plum cakes I’ve ever had don’t really have any plums! In fact, a regular Google search for plum cakes will only show “fruit cake” in results.

So for a change, i tried a cake with actual plums. If plums are hard to find in your area, feel free to use prunes, or dates.

All the eggless cakes i usually bake have whole wheat flour, coconut sugar and soy milk (extra) as a substitute for oil.

Plum Cake quintessential – Sauteed plums!

Without much ado, i’m happy to share that after a few iterations, i realized the best way to use plums in a cake is to chop them in small cubes and sautee them! In rice bran oil. Or any other mild flavoured oil you like to use for regular cooking and in desserts.

The plums i got through BigBasket.com in Delhi, India, were medium sized. After washing them with warm water, i cut six of them into small cubes and sauteed for 5 minutes in medium flame. After cooling, packed and stored 2/3 of the plums for future plum cakes

Plum Cake Recipe: The Ingredients

For a 1 pound (or 1/2 kg) plum cake, basic ingredients like wheat flour, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, baking soda and baking powder were used as per standard measures. I generally like to use a 200 ml cup.

Baking time is 40 minutes at 180 degrees in the microwave in convection mode.

To make it easy, i’m sharing a basic recipe card, with measurements in milliliters (ml) by volume:

• Whole Wheat Flour – 400 ml
• Whole wheat flower – 350 ml if using soy bean residue
• Soy milk or Regular milk – 150 ml
• Soy milk, if using oil – 100 ml; Oil – 50 ml
• Coconut sugar – 200 ml
• Baking Powder – 1 tsp
• Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
• Sauteed Plums – 2 medium sized plums, cut and sauteed in 2 tsp rice bran oil
• Dry fruit mix (cashews, raisins, almonds, berries, dates) – 150 ml by volume. Avoid walnuts – i save them for banana bread!
• Orange juice or Boiled Orange Peel tea – 50 ml (substitute for alcohol)
• Cut orange peel (after boiling) – 1 whole orange (Optional)
• Rolled oats – 1-2 tsp
• Nutmeg powder – 1/2 tsp.
• As an alternative to nutmeg, Ginger+Cinnamon powder can be used. But ginger can lend a slightly bitter flavour when combined with orange juice

You might have noticed “cut orange peels”. These are being used to add the tangy flavour. I prepare orange peel tea in winter and use the same in plum cake as well. Besides, i prefer using coconut sugar for baking, as refined sugar is not so healthy? Coconut sugar can be 4-5x costlier than white sugar. That’s why i use it only for cakes.

To make the batter, first we add sugar, baking powder+soda and vanilla essence to the milk. Add the oil, if using. Gradually, add the flour, and nutmeg, then whisk. Add orange tea/juice. After adding the dry fruits and sauteed plums, whisk again. Add more milk if the batter is too dry or add rolled oats if the batter is too runny.

While preparing the batter, pre-heat the oven for 15 minutes on 200 degrees.

I use semi-solid desi ghee for lining the 8″ cake tin. After pouring the batter, put the cake dish in the center and set the oven in convection mode for 40 minutes on 180 degrees.

At 30 minutes, check the cake status by piercing a small toothpick or fruit fork. Once baked, take the cake out of the tin and allow it to cool.

The final version would look something like this:

Cut the cake into slices and serve!

Other Plum Cakes i tried

Since Christmas time is also about presents, i ordered a plum cake from Om Nom bakery in south Delhi (India).

You can see a preview of their hamper in this Instagram post. If you are in Delhi, and missed out on the Christmas hamper, take a note that Om Nom makes hampers for all major festivals.

I had pre-booked this hamper nearly 2 months in advance, after having ordered a birthday cake and peach tarts from them.

In my Christmas hamper, there was raspberry & white chocolate tart, apple pie tart, ginger schnap cookies, chocolate and mint cookies and of course, an alcohol-free wheat based plum cake 🙂

The best i like about this bakery is that they are willing to customize as per preferences. The plum wasn’t excessively sweet. The cookies were perfect and kind of reminded me of those i use to get from Cafe Rischart in Munich.

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A post shared by Om-Nom (@om_nom_by_rm)

Other simple vegan cakes i make

As a kid, i got the love of baking while watching my mother prepare cakes at home.

Since i prefer my vegan bake fixes, this anniversary, i made a simple cake. Since mom wasn’t around any more, i dedicated this to her love for healthy and home-cooked food!

Though i do not share recipes or food posts very frequently, have tried to put some of them together in the Food and Lifestyle section of this website.

By the way, above is a preview of the plums I ordered through BigBasket.com in Delhi, India. Each medium size plum cost around INR 30/-.

Baking at home is one of my “therapeutic” hobbies. It also costs less and can be healthier, if we choose the right ingredients.

Wishing all of you a merry, healthy Christmas and a happier new year 2021!

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