This fresh Plum and Almond cake is packed with ripe, juicy plums, marzipan chunks and a zesty orange glaze come together in a delicious almond sponge traybake that makes a perfect afternoon treat with a cup of tea!
Fresh plums are perfect for baking. They are fabulous in cakes – check out one of my all-time favourites plum amaretti crumble cake – and of course in a plum crumble or pie.
When I was growing up we had two plum trees in our garden. I don’t think I’ve tasted better plums in my life – they were so sweet and juicy. On more than one occasion I gave myself a tummy ache from eating far too many.
If you find yourself with a glut of plums, you could do much worse than make this gorgeous fresh plum cake. It consists of a soft, fluffy sponge with chunks of marzipan topped with ripe plums, toasted almonds and an orange icing glaze. If you like almond bakes, I’m pretty confident that you will love this recipe!
One big bonus? All of the ingredients are mixed together in one bowl – making it incredibly quick and easy to put together.
plum and almond cake ingredients
Scroll to the end of the post to find a printable recipe card with ingredient amounts! If you’re baking this cake for the first time, don’t forget to read all the handy tips below.
- Fresh plums. I use Victoria plums, but any variety will work for this cake.
- Butter or baking spread, such as Stork. Whatever you use, it must be soft and not fridge cold.
- soft light brown sugar adds extra moisture to the sponge
- 4 medium eggs
- Greek yoghurt
- vanilla and almond extract
- self raising flour
- baking powder
- ground almonds
- flaked almonds
- marzipan, cut into small pieces
- For the optional icing glaze:
- icing sugar
- juice of half an orange
how to make it
Step one – Before you even switch on the oven, remove all the ingredients for the cake from the fridge.
Step two – preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F and grease and line a 9×13 inch traybake tin.
Step three – Place all of the ingredients apart from the marzipan and the flaked almonds in a large mixing bowl. Preferably using an electric mixer, beat on high speed for 2 minutes or until you have a smooth cake batter. Fold in the chopped marzipan.
Step four – Scrape the batter into the lined traybake tin. Top with the halved plums and scatter over the flaked almonds.
Step five – Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cake is risen, shrinking from the sides of the tin and springs back immediately when lightly pressed in the middle.
I usually let the cake cool completely in the tin, but if I’m honest, I never have enough patience to let it cool down! It’s so lovely warm I can never resist cutting myself a slice.
tips for making this fresh plum cake
Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before you make the sponge – this will make such a difference to the texture of the cake. I usually aim to take them out of the fridge about one hour before I plan to start. Toasting the flaked almonds may seem like a bit of a hassle, but it really is worth it – toasting nuts brings out their flavour.
Don’t overmix the cake batter – stop mixing as soon as you have a smooth batter. If you overmix, gluten will develop and the cake will turn out tough.
If you wanted to turn this cake into a pudding, you could omit the orange icing glaze and serve it warm from the oven with custard or cream – it makes a wonderfully cosy late Sumer pudding!
The marzipan tends to sink to the bottom of the sponge, but I don’t see this as a bad thing. It all adds to the homemade, rustic appearance of the cake!
substitutions
- make it gluten-free – Simply swap the flour for gluten-free flour. Luckily, ground almonds are naturally gluten-free. I have not tested this recipe using all almonds and no flour. It would change the texture of the sponge, but it might work (let me know if you try it!)
- make it vegan – You can make this cake vegan-friendly by replacing the butter with a vegan spread such as Flora plant or Stork.
- The eggs can be swapped for apple sauce or a vegan egg substitution.
- You could use a non dairy yoghurt alternative, such as soy yoghurt, in place of the Greek yoghurt.
variations
- use a different stone fruit – If you aren’t a fan of plums, fresh peaches, nectarines or apricots are all lovely alternatives.
- Scatter one tablespoon of demerara sugar all over the cake before baking (instead of the flaked almonds).
storage
This plum cake tastes best on the day it is made, but any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
freezing
The cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. Wrap in a double layer of cling film, followed by a double layer of foil before freezing.
want to see more cakes with fresh fruit?
did you make this plum and almond traybake?
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Plum and Almond cake
This Plum and Almond cake is bursting with flavour - ripe fresh plums, ground almonds, marzipan chunks and a zesty orange glaze come together in a delicious traybake that makes a perfect afternoon treat with a cup of tea!
Ingredients
- 25g Flaked Almonds
- 200g Self Raising Flour
- 175g Soft Light brown Sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 150g ground almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 4 medium eggs
- 150ml full fat Greek yoghurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- 175g soft butter or baking spread
- 100g marzipan, chopped into small pieces
- 8 ripe plums, stoned and halved
- FOR THE ORANGE ICING GLAZE
- 100g icing sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange juice
- 1 or 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 20x30cm traybake tin with baking parchment.
- Set a small frying pan over a medium heat. Add the flaked almonds, shaking the pan occasionally until the almonds are golden. The nuts can burn very very easily, so don't take your eyes off them. Remove from the heat and tip the nuts into a bowl. Set aside to cool.
- Place all of the ingredients for the cake apart from the flaked almonds and marzipan into a large mixing bowl. Preferably using an electric mixer, beat on high speed for about 2 minutes or until you have a smooth cake batter. Fold in the chopped marzipan.
- Scrape the batter into the tin and place the halved plums on top. Sprinkle over the toasted flaked almonds. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cake is golden, risen and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the tin completely.*see notes*
- When the cake is cold, make the orange icing. In a medium bowl, mix the icing sugar, orange extract and milk together until you have a smooth icing that is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Drizzle over the traybake. Cut into slices and serve!
Notes
*This cake is delicious served warm with custard or cream. It's quite fragile while still warm, so I use a sharp knife and a cake server to lift slices out to transfer to serving plates or bowls.
Storing: This fresh plum cake is best eaten on the day it is made, but any leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
Freezing: Wrap the cake in double layers of cling film and tin foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature before serving.
Substitutions:
Gluten free - Use a gluten free self raising flour.
Vegan - Swap the butter for a vegan substitute such as Flora plant or Stork, the eggs for a vegan egg replacement, the Greek yoghurt and milk for dairy free alternatives such as soy yoghurt and oat or almond milk.
Use different fruit - For a change, you could swap the plums for a different stone fruit such as nectarines, peaches, cherries or apricots.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 453Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 87mgSodium: 493mgCarbohydrates: 56gFiber: 3gSugar: 39gProtein: 8g
Calories and Nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be used as indicative figures only.