Eating on the beach, as they say in Odessa, is “our everything”. And no heat saves you from hunger, when you swim, catch all your waves, jump a couple of times from the pier and build something monumental and impressive from the sand, at this moment it comes – a hunger that you did not count on at all. If you are far outside the city on the wild Odessa beach, where there are no people, merchants, and even no toilets, then a lunch box with cake, prudently shoved into your hands by your mother, will save you from starvation and help you to spend a couple more hours at the beach, so your skin has time to sunburn completely. And if it is the end of July or the beginning of August, then it will be a cake with plums that are firm, still sour, shiny like the first-grader’s shoes. Even if there are no such memories in your life, the recipe is easy as pie, madly delicious, with sourness, and the smell of hot summer.
Eating on the beach, as they say in Odessa, is “our everything”. And no heat saves you from hunger, when you swim, catch all your waves, jump a couple of times from the pier and build something monumental and impressive from the sand, at this moment it comes – a hunger that you did not count on at all. If you are far outside the city on the wild Odessa beach, where there are no people, merchants, and even no toilets, then a lunch box with cake, prudently shoved into your hands by your mother, will save you from starvation and help you to spend a couple more hours at the beach, so your skin has time to sunburn completely. And if it is the end of July or the beginning of August, then it will be a cake with plums that are firm, still sour, shiny like the first-grader’s shoes. Even if there are no such memories in your life, the recipe is easy as pie, madly delicious, with sourness, and the smell of hot summer.- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Cook time: 20 minutes
- Serves: 6-8
- Difficulty: easy
- Course: pastry
- Cookware: ceramic baking dish, square 20x20cm or round 22cm
- Cuisine: Odessa
Ingredients
- 12 small plums or 6 large plums
- 125 g butter
- 180 g sugar
- 200 g flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
For sprinkling the plums:
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Cooking method
Step 1
Heat the oven to 160°C. Wash the plums, dry them, cut them in two and remove the pits. ⠀
Step 2
In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until white. Mix flour with baking powder. Add eggs, salt, vanilla to the butter and mix well. Add flour and knead the dough.
Step 3⠀
Butter a baking dish. Evenly distribute the dough in the baking dish. Place the plums on top, sideways or skin down. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes.
My tips and tricks:
If your plums are too juicy, here’s an idea for how to solve this problem and reduce the amount of liquid in your pastry. It doesn’t matter what recipe you cook from. Prepare the plums in advance, for example the day before you are going to use them. Cut and pit the plums. Place in a bowl and refrigerate uncovered overnight. During this time, the plums will “dry out” slightly and will not ruin your cake 🙂
Every time you cook from my recipe, my life gets one day longer. This is probably the most popular recipe on the blog. If you make this cake, I will live forever 🙂
- 12 small plums or 6 large plums
- 125 g butter
- 180 g sugar
- 200 g flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- seeds of 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla paste
- For sprinkling the plums:
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Heat the oven to 160°C. Wash the plums, dry them, cut them in two and remove the pits. ⠀
- In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until white. Mix flour with baking powder. Add eggs, salt, vanilla to the butter and mix well. Add flour and knead the dough.
- Butter a baking dish. Evenly distribute the dough in the baking dish. Place the plums on top, sideways or skin down. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes.