Plum Crumble Cake
A delicious and easy vegan plum crumble cake – a vanilla sponge with juicy cinnamon flavoured plums topped with crispy crumble.
I had almost forgotten about plum crumble cake until a recent trip to Germany. Thanks to my wife’s uncle I managed to pick a few plums from his tree over the weekend and thought I would have a go at making a vegan version this time.
The next day we headed over to the in-laws for lunch and no sooner had it been placed on the table it was all gone. I think it was a success 🙂
If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂
RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS
- EASE: Super easy.
- FREE FROM: dairy-free, nut-free and vegan.
- GREAT FOR: gatherings and comfort food.
- TASTE: sweet and fruity.
- TEXTURE: the sponge is moist and fluffy, filled with juicy plums and topped with crispy crumble.
- QUANTITY: 12 slices (23cm / 10inch square baking pan)
- TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
INGREDIENTS
For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:
- Plain or all-purpose flour (BL55)
- Cornflour (cornstarch)
- Soft brown sugar (Vegan)
- Baking powder
- Pure vanilla extract or paste
- Neutral-tasting oil (coconut, vegetable or sunflower oil) or vegan butter
- Plant based milk
- Fresh plums
- Ground cinnamon
– Vanilla recommendations: pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or vanilla pods.
- Salt – I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your cakes. It might seem a bit weird, but it actually has the incredible ability to enhance sweetness, suppress bitterness, and elevate the flavour of all the ingredients, making your cake taste even better. It’s pretty crazy, the sodium in the salt sends signals to move glucose into your tongue’s sweet taste receptors, making the sweetness really pop. So, don’t be afraid to sprinkle a little salt – it’ll take your cakes to the next level!
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt, but any good quality salt is fine.
WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?
Fruits: This recipe works great with other fruits too. Try other stone fruits like apricots, peaches, gooseberries, pears or mix it up with apples and blackberries.
Oils: If you don’t like the sound of using oil then you can replace it with vegan butter or of course for those non-vegans’ regular butter also works.
If you experiment, Please leave a comment at the bottom of the post – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing how you got on and I regularly update these posts and the feedback I receive helps to make the recipes even more useful.
NUTRITION
Serving: one cake slice.
Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.
I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.
I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
STORAGE AND FREEZING
This cake can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days. The crumble topping will become less crispy over time.
Freezing: This cake can be frozen but it will lose its crispiness.
EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS
I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.
These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, great for using as dry storage bowls with lids. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre, where one of 3 graters can be used for grating cheese or vegetables.
I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.
These measuring spoons are really handy for getting the right measurements of those small ingredients. I also like the fact that they are magnetic, sticking together and narrow to fit into spice jars.
A great size and good quality non-stick pan for all your traybakes, bars and brownies etc…
Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.
© THE GOURMET LARDER. All images and content are copyright protected. If you want to share this recipe, please do so using the share buttons provided. Please do not republish the recipe or its content in full instead, include a link to this post for the recipe. Further information can be found in my FAQ’s.
RECIPE TIPS
Use plums that are just ripe. If you use over ripe plums, they will just be a mush in the middle. Unless you like that 🙂
Plum Crumble Cake
- 23cm (10inch) square baking pan
INGREDIENTS LIST
Vegan sponge
- 150 g plain flour (all-purpose) (BL55)
- 30 g cornflour (cornstarch) (cornstarch)
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste
- 75 ml neutral-tasting oil (coconut, vegetable or sunflower oil)
- 150 ml non-dairy milk (almond, oat, rice or soy milk) (room temperature)
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
Plums
- 500 g fresh plums
- 30 g light brown sugar (2 tbsp)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Crumble topping
- 100 g plain flour (all-purpose)
- 50 tsp light brown sugar
- 50 ml coconut oil
Preparation
- Crumble topping: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and cinnamon with a fork until well blended.
- Make a well in the center and pour in the coconut oil. Gently rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until the crumble looks like chunky breadcrumbs. Don't over mix.
- Spread onto a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with cling wrap and chill until you are ready to use. Chilling will harden the coconut oil and will make the crumble crispier.
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C fan / 400°F / Gas 6. Line a 23cm (10inch) square baking pan with baking/parchment paper and leave a side until ready to use.
- Plums: Wash and then cut the plums in half lengthways removing the stones. Place them in a bowl and mix in the cinnamon and brown sugar and leave to macerate.
- Vegan sponge: In a large bowl add all the ingredients and whisk together until you have a smooth batter.
- Pour the sponge batter into the prepared baking tin, ensuring it is evenly spread across the bottom.
- Give the plums a stir and then arrange them vertically pushing them into the sponge batter.
- Remove the crumble topping from the fridge and break it up with a fork and sprinkle it over the top of the plums.
- Baking: Place the cake on the middle shelf of your pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp on top.Leave to cool in the tin or serve warm with some vanilla custard.
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