Olive Oil Plum Cake

Olive Oil Plum Cake
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
4(656)
Notes
Read community notes

I’ve always been intrigued by olive oil cakes and decided to switch out half the butter in the original recipe for this plum cake for olive oil. I spread the batter in a 10-inch tart pan and topped it with delicious pluots from the farmers’ market. You can serve this as a dessert, a coffee cake, or a sweet snack.

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Ingredients

Yield:Serves 8
  • 125grams (approximately 1 cup) whole wheat flour
  • 90grams (approximately 3//4 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 10grams (approximately 2 teaspoons) baking powder
  • 4grams (approximately ½ teaspoon) salt
  • 60grams (approximately ¼ cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 50grams (approximately ¼ cup) extra virgin olive oil
  • 100grams (approximately ½ cup) sugar
  • 110grams (2 extra large) eggs
  • 5grams (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
  • 1gram (¼ teaspoon) almond extract
  • 400 to 450grams (approximately 1 pound) firm plums or pluots, sliced
  • 25grams (approximately 2 tablespoons) turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

311 calories; 14 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 42 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 21 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 291 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9-inch springform pan or a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line with parchment and lightly butter the parchment. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

  2. Step 2

    Place the butter in a stand mixer and beat at medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the olive oil and beat at medium speed for 1 minute, until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down the bowl and beater. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed for 1 minute. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl and beaters between each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extract and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed, until the mixture is very light.

  3. Step 3

    Turn the speed to low and slowly add the flour. Beat just until incorporated.

  4. Step 4

    Scrape the batter into the pan and spread it out evenly using an offset spatula. Arrange the plums on top in concentric circles, pressing them down into the batter.

  5. Step 5

    Bake the cake for about 40 to 45 minutes, until the edges of the plums are beginning to color and a tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the turbinado sugar. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes on a rack before releasing the sides of the springform or tart pan. Then let it cool completely before slicing.

Tips
  • Advance preparation: You can make this a day before you wish to serve.
  • You can cut slightly smaller slices for 10 to 12 servings.

Ratings

4 out of 5
656 user ratings
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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

I made the batter for this cake and thought it looked exceptionally dry. After looking at comments, I realized it is a flawed recipe. I added 3 large spoonfuls of yogurt to the batter and voila! A moist, tasty cake (though rather humble in appearance/thickness). I topped mine with pears and blackberries instead of plums.

Probably the worst dessert I have ever made. My husband took one bite and set it aside. "Cake" is like dry Styrofoam. Threw the entire thing out. Don't bother.

The first rule of the internet is don't read the comments. The exception to this rule is that you should ALWAYS read the NYTCooking comments. If I were a more prudent baker, I would have read the helpful comments posted before mine and saw this cake requires 1. moisture (yogurt sounds good!) and 2. switching the whole wheat and all purp ratios. I followed the recipe exactly and at the last minute added an olive oil honey glaze before baking. Basically, a delicious cookie with jammy plums on top.

Dry but tasty. The cake is almost scone-like, especially around the edges. Interestingly, it was better on the 2nd & 3rd day. I think I would make it again.

Not flawed, and not too dry. Made as instructed, was perfect. Note, we do not favor overly sweet cakes/desserts. The crumb is wonderful. Will def make again!

A great cake once solved for a conversion error in the recipe. Use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup all purpose instead of what is shown. Also, best to bake in tart pan with removable bottom as it is very thin. But is delicious!!!

This was so good. I read through all of the notes and was a bit concerned about some of the negative reviews but decided to go for it anyway. It sounded too delicious to pass up and my Italian plum trees were overflowing with fruit. I followed the preparation instructions meticulously; the only adjustment I made was to the ingredients. The recipe called for 120 grams of whole wheat flour. Instead, I used 75g of almond flour and 45g of whole wheat flour. Incredibly delicious, thank you!!

Surprisingly dry for an olive oil cake. Unlikely to make again.

I wish I had read the comments before making this. It is dryer than the Gobi desert. It is a Saharan Desert Dessert. Think plums on a dog biscuit. The plums were nice. The cake got thrown out.

I also read the comments and then added a cup and a half of fresh ricotta and it is wonderful. I also substituted the white sugar for raw sugar which made it less sweet, which we prefer.

Disappointing, as could be more moist, especially around the edges.

Awful cake don't make it.

The directions for the recipe do not say when to add the baking powder and salt so I nearly forgot them.

I have made different versions of this cake through the years, most with butter rather than with a combination of butter and olive oil. This recipe came out dry even though I had reduced the cooking time by 5 minutes after reading the reviews. Although my family liked it, I will not make this particular plumb cake again.

I love this concept - but the dough seemed off - almost like crumbly cookie dough so I added some milk to make it more like cake batter. It was still delicious, but I would workshop the recipe more to make it spectacular (I saw another commenter’s idea of almost flour) and I would want the olive oil to come through more somehow. Plums were wonderful and jammy.

I’m a pretty good baker and home cook and I can usually make something out of nothing. In this instance, we stood around the sink and ate baked sliced plums off the top of a big chunk of drab and flavorless Styrofoam. Terrible recipe, and what a waste of some of the most gorgeous plums I’ve ever had.

I liked this cake very much and so did all my guests. I am glad I didn’t read the comments first because they are mostly negative and misleading. Made it exactly as written and it is delicious. It’s not supposed to be a fluffy cake. Change your expectations and make it!

I should have read the comments…this cake was dry as dust.

I added some frozen blueberries and raspberries and sprinkled some turbinado sugar on before it went in the oven and it turned out well! Not too dry at all. I did switch the amounts of whole and AP flour though.

I found this recipe to be incredibly dry. I’ve baked this cake twice to try and figure it out, after the first one was almost inedible with how dry it came out. Did I over mix? Over cook? I decided to make it again after the failed first attempt. I mixed it in my stand mixer per the recipe (if I made it a third time, I would mix in the dry by hand), and baked 40 minutes per the low end of baking time. Still very dry, almost inedible.

Beautiful but disappointingly DRY. Wish I had read the comments beforehand. Will definitely try again, following suggested adjustments. Since I’m not one to throw away food, I may try microwaving a few seconds on a damp paper towel. Or if that fails, there’s always whipped cream:)

The directions for the recipe do not say when to add the baking powder and salt so I nearly forgot them.

Dry as sawdust. I cut the baking time from the suggested 40-45 minutes down to 30 minutes, given how thin the cake batter was but still not a good bake. Unfortunately, a waste of beautiful plums. It looked gorgeous. Too bad the taste doesn’t match up with its appearance. Very disappointing.

Not dry at all! Highly recommend to use the metric measurements - especially for the flour as the cup measurements can vary widely depending on how much you pack the flour down in the cup. I have made this cake several times now and it is on its way to becoming a favourite.

Bad. Even with a big glop of yogurt and flipping the flour types, it was so so dry. Not good.

I like the crispy crust but after mixing e cream ale it seems to stiff which usually equates to dry in the finished product. I added an extra 1/4 cup of fruity olive oil and I think it helped.

Horrible , sadly I did not read the comments until after. I made two for a special evening and the guest barely touched it, Both ended in the garbage

Made this with prune plums from France that we bought at the old market square in Leuven, Belgium. In C, we heated the oven to 180C, and reduced the baking time to 35 min with a convection oven. I substituted the AP flour with almond flour and used 85 gr of crystallized sugar. Vanilla came in the form of a 10gr vanilla sugar which added a bit of sugar in. Instead of raw sugar, we sprinkled cinnamon and dotted the fruit with several squeezes of lemon juice. Delightful tart mid morning!

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