Downtown Bon Vivant: German Plum Cake with Crumble Recipe [Zwetschgendatschi or Zwetschgenfleck mit Streusel Rezept]

Zwetschgendatschi as Germans and Bavarians call it, or Zwetschgenfleck as we Austrians are calling the Zwetschgenkuchen more often, is a very nice summer cake. Especially when fresh prune plums (italian plums) are available. Because right now (August) you can get the plums fresh, right from your local farmers market (like we are getting ours from Gerardi's Farmers Market, here on Staten Island).

So August is a great month in New York City to go with this fruity and sweet coffee cake. Of course this German plum cake with crumble is also a nice dessert. Like when you are out for a pic nic. You can just cut the cake into handy pieces and everyone can just grab one piece after a little outdoor snack.

Serveral different varieties of Zwetschgendatschi recipes are popular in Germany and Austria. We are baking our personal favorite today. The Streusel-Zwetschgenkuchen made from a nice yeast dough.

Here is what you need for our original German & Austrian Mehlspeise, called "Zwetschgendatschi":

*************************************
INGREDIENTS
For the yeast dough:

500 gram (17.63 oz) all purpose flour
125 milliliters (4.24 fl oz) milk
85 gram (2.99 oz) unsalted butter (melted, luke warm)
70 gram (2.47 oz) granulated sugar
2 eggs (medium size)
7 gram (1 package) dry yeast
lemon zest of 1/2 lemon

For the filling:

2000 gram (4.4 lbs) Italian plums aka prune plums
50 gram (1.76 oz) unsalted butter (melted, luke warm)

For the Streusel

200 gram (7.05 oz) all purpose flour
150 gram (5.29 oz) granulated sugar
150 gram (5.29 oz) unsalted butter (melted, hot)
7 gram (0.25 oz) ground cinnamon

*************************************
PREPARATION
Prepare the dough:

Melt butter and let cool.
Put all the ingredients for the dough into a mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
Turn on the stand mixer on lowest speed for about 2 minutes.
Now turn the stand mixer on the highest speed for about 8 minutes until the dough gets a smooth surface and removes itself from the mixing bowl.
Cover the mixing bowl with a dish cloth and let rest at a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling:

Wash the plums under hot water.
Cut plums into halves.
Remove the pits, the stems and the annoying stickers from the peel.
Cut plum halves into 1cm (3/8 inch) thick slices.
Melt butter and let cool.

Prepare the crumbs (Streusel):

Sieve flour into a bowl.
Add granulated sugar and ground cinnamon to the bowl and mix it (just stir it in with a spoon or so).
Now melt butter and let the hot butter drip over the flour-sugar-cinnamon mix and stir with a FORK. But not too much. This way you get the little crumbs.

Make the pie:

Preheat the convection oven to 380 Farenheit. (If you don't have a convection oven, change the apartment or set a normal oven to 390 Farenheit.)
Take the dough out of the bowl and place on counter top.
Cover the counter top with flour and roll out the dough a little bit.
Now take a non-stick baking sheet liner that fits a "half sheet pan" (18 x 13 inch) and put the dough on the liner.
Roll out the dough on the liner so that it will cover the complete liner.
Pull the liner with the dough on it onto the half sheet pan and press the dough against the walls of the baking pan.
Take the melted butter, the 50 gram listed in "for the filling", and brush the dough with it.
Take the plum slices and cover the dough with the plums. Set them tightly together.
Take the crumbs and with your hand crumble them over the plums.
Put the cake into the preheated oven for about 20 - 30 minutes. But please trust your eyes, don't rely on any numbers regarding temperature or time mentioned here, and bake the cake until it has got a golden brown crust on the sides.
Remove from the oven and immediately dust with ground cinnamon and powdered sugar. But only a LITTLE BIT. Not too much!
Dust with powdered sugar when serving.

An Guadn! Bavarian for "Enjoy your meal".

And if you don't have a farmers market around where you get fresh plums or if you just don't have the time to bake this delicous German cake, we bake it in our little bakery for you.
For your birthday party, office catering or even if you have a little cafe where you would like to offer Zwetschgendatschi with your delicious coffee, contact the 2 PENZ and we make you a quote for local NYC delivery!