Plum Cake Recipe, Christmas Cake Recipe

Plum cake is a special cake with lots of dry fruits inside the cake made during the Christmas season or for the Christmas festival. It is loaded with loads of fruits such as almonds, cashews, pistachios and other ingredients such as raisins which are available in different colours such as green raisins commonly called kishmish, black raisins and red raisins.

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• About the recipe
• Step by step baking procedure
• Video
• Recipe

About the recipe

It is a special cake made for Christmas and it contains various fruits and dry inside the cake batter.

The batter is made by beating eggs, brown sugar, butter, milk and then adding flour such as all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder as well as dry spices such as cardamom powder and cinnamon powder, add milk, water, vanilla extract, making a thick cake batter and baking it in the oven.

The cake is simple to make but the main ingredients are the fruits as the rest of the ingredients to make the cake are similar to the basic cake batters.

This cake is quite common in Kerala called Kerala plum cake as well as common in other parts of India during the Christmas season.

Dry Fruits required: The essential things added to the cake batter are tutti frutti which are colourful candy and then some red cherries, sliced almonds, cashew nuts which are sliced or chopped, pistachios and dates too can be chopped and added to the cake batter.

The other essential ingredients that go into the batter are raisins and they are available in various colours such as green, red and black.

Is it essential to soak the fruits?

Basically, all the dry fruits such as tutti frutti, cherries, raisins are all soaked in rum traditionally but rum and alcohol are not always used by everyone and they prefer to soak them in cranberry juice or orange juice or grape juice.

The soaked fruits are then added into the batter but here in this recipe, I have not felt the need to soak the dry fruits as I tried to make the cake in a quick and easy manner and it turned out amazing and spongy.

If soaking is preferred then soak all the fruits overnight or for 5-6 hours in any preferred juice such as grape juice or cranberry juice and then add them to the cake batter.

However, I have made the cake without soaking and it is extremely yummy and tasty.

Is it necessary to add spice powders?

Spice powders such as nutmeg powder, clove powder, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and other preferred powders are added into the cake batter but are entirely optional but my choice of dry spices is to add cardamom powder and cinnamon powder or these too can be skipped if not preferring to add.

How to make the plum cake without an oven?

I have made it in the oven but if one prefers to make it in a cooker or without oven follow the below steps and also check my other cakes or desserts which have been made without oven such as cooker cake, eggless vanilla cake etc...

Can it be made without eggs?

Yes, the cake can be made without eggs or eggless and add condensed milk or yoghurt in place of eggs.

Steps to make in a cooker or without oven

To make in a cooker:

• Take a cooker, add salt/sand at the base and preheat the cooker for 10 minutes.
• Grease the cake pan, place a butter paper and add the cake batter and keep it ready.
• Once the cooker is preheated, place a stand and then place the cake pan over it.
• Cover the lid of the cooker and remove the whistle.
• Cook or bake the cake for 45-50 minutes on low heat or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Making in a wok/pan:

• Add salt or sand at the base and preheat it.
• Place a stand and then place the cake pan on the stand.
• Cover the lid and bake the cake until it is done and it takes about 50-60 minutes until it is nicely done or baked.

How to make the cake in the oven?

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F or 180 °C.
• Grease the cake pan, butter/baking paper should be placed, the batter should be poured and kept ready.
• As soon as the oven is preheated, place the cake pan inside the oven.
• Bake the cake for 45 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Other ways to make this cake:

• If all fruits are not available, skip them and add which are available.
• Butter can be replaced with edible oil if preferred.
• If the oven is not available, then it's easy to make it without an oven and I have shared many without oven cakes which can be checked on the blog or on my youtube channel.

Check out the cake recipe with a video below with step by step details.

Step by step baking procedure

• Take a mixing bowl, add the eggs and whisk them well with a beater or whisker.

• Add brown sugar, melted butter and beat well for few minutes.

• Into a sieve, add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder.

• Sieve all the dry ingredients into the cake mix.

• Mix well.

• Add ¼ cup milk and give a mix without lumps with a beater.

• Add the dry fruits such as red cherries, mixed fruit/tutti frutti, black raisins, red raisins, green raisins. Also, add sliced almonds, chopped cashew nuts, pistachios chopped.

• Give a mix.

• Add ¼ cup milk, 3 tablespoon warm water and vanilla extract.

• Mix the cake batter well.

• The cake batter is ready.

Baking the cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F or 180 °C. Take a 6-inch cake pan, grease the pan on all sides with butter or oil. Place a baking paper at the base.

• Pour the cake batter into the pan. Tap the pan well for the batter to settle down.

• Top with some sliced dry fruits.

• Place the cake pan into the oven. Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes.

• Check the cake with a toothpick and if the toothpick comes out clean cake is done else bake the cake until it is done.

• Take the pan out from the oven. Cool it down. Loosen the sides of the cake. Demould the cake by inverting the pan.

• The plum cake comes out perfectly, spongy and is ready to be served.

Video

Recipe