French Prune Plums

French Prune Plums

The past several years we’ve enjoyed the ultimate u-pick experiences when our dear friend Otti invites us to help harvest fruit from her orchard. Her late husband and her son planted several varieties of fruit trees over the years, some choices based on research and others on a whim, such as “the name sounds interesting.” To put in perspective the challenge of choosing a particular fruit tree to plant, there are over 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States alone with more being developed every year. There are over 300 varieties of peaches, and while there are fewer plums, choosing a particular variety can still be daunting. About three years ago Otti and her son planted two French prune plum trees. They were in full production this year and we came home with about 20 pounds of plums.

Verne picking plums

What to do with 20 pounds of plums? A few years ago during my Master Food Preserver (MFP) days I would have said “Make jam!”. I haven’t kept track, but over my four years in the program I must have canned over a thousand jars of jam and given most of it away. Bottom line…we just don’t eat that much jam and when we do eat jam we have our favorites, like multi-berry or strawberry fig. Plum, plain as well as various combinations, such as plum-rosemary, ranked well down the list. After eating a stomach-ache full of the little prune plums, I decided eating 20 pounds of any fresh fruit was not a good idea.  They needed to be either frozen or dehydrated. When we arrived to pick we found Otti busy in her kitchen making a Prune Cake, a favorite as a child growing up in Germany. Her recipe begins with a German shortbread (Muerbeteig dough) that is pressed into a 9”x13” pan, topped with the fresh halved plums, and baked. Otti’s recipe calls for a whopping 4-1/2 pounds of plums. Hard to imagine? Here’s a picture of her cake in progress with about 4 pounds of the “little soldiers” already lined up on the pastry.

Otti's Plum Cake in progress ("little soldiers" standing at attention)

The idea of making four of her Prune Cakes and using up all the plums we’d picked was appealing. But before starting I decided to see what other ideas were available in my cookbooks as well as online. I Googled “German prune plum cake” and got an amazing number of results. The most interesting recipe was included in an article published in the New York Times. The recipe was called the Original Plum Torte or Marian Burros’ Plum Torte and is considered “the most famous recipe ever to grace the pages of the New York Times.” It’s a simple recipe that goes together quickly. The only change I made was the quantity of fruit. Afterall, my mission was to use up the majority of the 20 pounds so I increased the number of plums from 12 to 32 (whole plums, 64 halves). Even with that change I was able to place them flat and side by side on the batter. No “little soldiers” for me. About a dozen cakes later I’d used up the majority of the plums. Each cake was cut into four pieces, wrapped and frozen to later be reheated and served at breakfast or in the evening as a dessert. Did I mention we absolutely love this plum cake? It’s not overly sweet, reheats beautifully, and will be enjoyed through this next year each time reminding us of a warm fall day picking prune plums in Otti’s orchard.

Marion Burros’ Plum Torte (I prefer to call it, Otti’s Plum Cake)

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch salt

¾ cup sugar

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 large eggs

32 French prune plums, pitted and halved lengthwise

2 teaspoon of sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon, mixed, for sprinkling on top last 5 minutes of baking

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer or handheld beaters, cream the sugar and butter until very light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

3. Add the dry ingredients and the eggs all at once, and beat until combined, scraping down the bowl once or twice.

4. Spread the batter into an 8 or 9-inch spring form pan or 9” square pan. Arrange the plum halves, skin side down, on top of the batter in concentric circles or side by side (8 halves across and 8 halves down).

5. Sprinkle the batter and fruit lightly with the sugar-cinnamon mixture last 5 minutes of baking.

6. Bake the torte (cake) for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in its pan on a rack for 10 minutes, and then release the spring and let it finish cooling just on the base. If baked in a square pan, let cool for about 20 minutes and then remove. Once it’s cool, serve, or you can double-wrap the torte (cake) in foil, put in a sealed plastic bag, and freeze for up to one year. Note: to serve after it has been frozen, defrost completely and then reheat for 5 to 10 minutes in a 300-degree oven.

I have seen very similar recipes to this that use blueberries in place of the plums. Great idea for those of us who pick blueberries in May or June and then freeze them to enjoy throughout the year.

Verne picking blueberries June 2019

Joyce picking blueberries June 2019