Grandma’s Plum Crumble Cake recipe made vegan – It’s a super simple but delicious German pie made with a cookie-like crust, fresh juicy fruits, and a crunchy cinnamon streusel topping! The perfect tea or coffee time dessert for fall that can be made with apples or pears too!
The vegan recipe of grandma’s plum cake
Here in Germany, plum cake with streusel, or plum crumble cake, is one of the most popular cakes in fall! Usually grandma makes the traditional plum cake with yeast dough, but if you’re looking for a quick cake, her recipe with shortcrust pastry and streusel is always a hit too! However, if you prefer making a coffee cake with sponge cake batter, feel free to check out my apricot cake recipe and use plums instead of apricots.
Quick and easy crumble cake
For this recipe you only need to make one pie dough, which is used to make both, the crust and the streusel. It takes less than 5 minutes to make the dough, as you just have to mix all the ingredients until combined. To assemble the cake, spread the plums on the pie crust, then add the streusel on top and it’s ready to go in the oven!
Made with just a few ingredients
To make the plum cake, you only need a few simple staple ingredients that you may already have in your pantry. If you have your own plum tree in the garden, the whole cake might cost you just 1 euro! So you could even say that this plum crumble cake is one of the cheapest cakes ever! Here are the ingredients needed:
- Flour: spelt, all-purpose, or gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour.
- Baking powder: or half the amount of baking soda.
- Cinnamon: for that great wintry flavor.
- Salt: a pinch will do.
- Sugar: for sweetening. I like to use raw cane sugar, but you can also use regular white or brown or coconut sugar.
- Vegan butter: cold and cut into small pieces.
- Water: this should be as cold as possible.
- Plums: or other stone fruit like apples or pears.
- Breadcrumbs: these absorb the fruit juice and ensure that the crust does not become soft.
- Almonds: Optional for sprinkling. Alternatively, you can use other nuts such as chopped walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans.
How to make Grandma’s Plum Cake with Streusel
As always, I recommend checking out this step-by-step instruction and the recipe video first. Then you can find the full recipe with exact measurements in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Make the dough.
First, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugar in a bowl. Then add the cold vegan butter and water and knead everything briefly with your hands to form a dough.
Step 2: Press half of the dough into a springform pan.
Now roll out a little more than half of the dough as shown in the photos. Then transfer it to a greased 8-inch (20-cm) springform pan and press down evenly, creating a nice pie crust. Prick the bottom of the dough a few times with a fork and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Then arrange the plums on top.
*Tip: Be sure to refrigerate the dough as instructed in the recipe card below. This ensures it doesn’t get too soft and prevents the sides from collapsing during baking.
Step 3: Add plums and streusel, then bake!
Now crumble the remaining dough as streusel on top. Sprinkle with some slivered almonds and a little sugar If you like. Then bake the cake for about 40 minutes at 356 °F (180 °C) and let it cool down afterwards.
*Tip: If the top gets too dark during baking, you can cover it loosely with parchment paper.
How to store plum cake?
The plum crumble cake pie will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator and can also be frozen. Then simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator or reheat in the oven.
How can I serve plum cake?
My grandma loves her classic German plum crumble cake with powdered sugar and whipped cream, but I love it with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream! If you want a healthier and lower calorie topping you can top your piece of cake with nice cream or coconut yogurt and a pinch of cinnamon!
This vegan German plum cake with streusel is:
- Quick and easy to make
- Egg-less
- Dairy-free
- Without yeast
- Juicy
- Fruity
- Topped with crunchy streusel
- Versatile
- Budget-friendly
- So delicious!
- Tastes great with ice cream or whipped cream
- The perfect cake for fall and winter!
More favorite vegan baking recipes for fall
- Vegan Apple Pie
- Apple Crumble Cake
- Mandarin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Marble Cake
- Apple Turnovers
- Mini Apple Pies
- Pumpkin Bread
- Apple Stuffed Buns
- Plum Cheesecake
- Apple Pie Roll-Ups
- Cinnamon Rolls
If you try this vegan plum crumble cake recipe, feel free to leave me a comment and a star rating! And if you take a photo of your delicious dessert and share it on Instagram, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka because I love seeing your creations! Happy baking! 🙂
German Plum Cake with Streusel
Author:Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) flour all-purpose, spelt or gluten-free flour (*see notes)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup (70 g) raw cane sugar + a little more for sprinkling
- ½ cup (125 g) vegan butter cold & diced
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) cold water
- 21 oz (600 g) plums washed, pitted & quartered
- 1.5 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 2-3 tbsp slivered almonds
To serve (optional)
- powdered sugar
- vegan ice cream or whipped cream/coconut yogurt
Instructions
*Note: Check out the recipe video + step-by-step photos above!
- Grease a 8-inch (20-cm) springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Then place the pan in the refrigerator while making the dough.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugar. Add the cold diced vegan butter and the water and knead everything briefly with your hands to form a dough.
- Wrap a little less than half of the dough for the streusel topping in cling film and place in the refrigerator.
- Roll out the remaining dough on a piece of cling film or parchment paper as shown in the step-by-step photos above. Then transfer to the springform pan and press evenly into the bottom and about 2.5-3 inches up the side.
- Place the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes (or refrigerate for 30 minutes) (this will harden the dough and prevent the edges from collapsing during baking). Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 356 °F (180 °C) and clean, pit and cut the plums.
- After the cooling time, prick the dough bottom a few times with a fork and sprinkle evenly with breadcrumbs.
- Arrange the plums on top, then crumble the remaining dough as a streusel on top.
- Sprinkle with some slivered almonds and a bit of sugar and bake the cake for about 40 minutes (after 25 minutes, you can loosely cover the cake with parchment paper to prevent the top from getting too brown).
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan. Then carefully remove from the pan, slice and serve with a scoop of ice cream.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Gluten-free: To make the shortcrust gluten-free, you can use gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour. I also recommend adding a bit of apple sauce or an flax egg to prevent the dough from getting too crumbly (stir 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed into 3 tbsp of hot water and set aside for about 5 minutes until it thickens).
- Sugar: Instead of raw cane sugar, you can use regular white or brown sugar, coconut sugar or another sugar.
- Storing: Leftover cake will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and can also be frozen.
- For more information about this recipe, read the blog post above.
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can i use frozen plum for this cake? Any instructions need to be changed?
I think frozen plums will be too watery but you can try it.
Great recipe, easy to follow and turned out really well. Made this using plums from our tree. Love that this has less sugar in it, for added sweetness/caramely taste definitely recommend sprinkling the extra sugar on the plums.
Glad you used plums from your tree! 🙂 Thanks for your positive feedback!