Augsburger Pflaumendatschi

Traditional Plum Cake of Augsberg, Germany

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A Little Background

Augsburger Zwetschgendatschi is one of Germany’s great autumn cakes.
In Augsburg, the arrival of the late-summer Zwetschgen
meant it was time to make Datschi — a thin yeast cake covered with closely packed plums.

The tradition goes back at least to an 1830 Augsburg cookbook recipe,
making this more than just a plum cake.
It is a taste of the season and a little piece of Augsburg history.

Traditional Datschi is made with Zwetschgen,
the small, firm European prune plums that are prized for baking.
They can be difficult to find in American markets, so my recipe uses ripe black plums (Pflaumen),
which are much easier to find and make a beautiful Datschi.

Follow these simple steps…

Warm the milk until lukewarm. Stir in the yeast and let stand for about 5 minutes.
Add the egg and melted butter. The butter should be warm but not hot.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt.

Add the wet ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 45–60 minutes, or until noticeably puffy.

Prepare the plums

Wash and dry the plums. Cut them in half, remove the pits, and cut into wedges.

Form the Kuchen

Butter a rimmed baking sheet or rectangular baking pan.
The dough will fit a 13×9 inch rectangular baking pan
Here I made a smaller 8 x 6 baking dish.
Roll or gently stretch the dough into a thin layer, about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick.

Arrange the plum wedges closely together over the dough.
For that beautiful Augsburg look,
stand the pieces slightly upright and overlap them a little, like shingles.

Let the dough rise in a warm place till double in size.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the plums.

Bake at 375°F (190°C) for approximately 35–45 minutes,
until the edges are golden and the plums are tender and beginning to caramelize.
You can also test the center of the crust, it is done at 200 degrees F.

When it cools you can dust with powdered sugar, for a presentation to
give contrast to those nice charred plum tips.

A nice piece of cake goes well with whipped cream.
(called Schlagsahne)

A popular meal in parts of Germany is potato soup (Kartoffelsuppe) and Pflaumendatschi.
It isn’t a dessert, it is part of the meal.

Print

Augsburger Pflaumendatschi

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Equipment

• 1 rectangular baking pan

Ingredients

Yeast Dough

• 1/2 cup milk lukewarm (120 ml)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast or 1 packet (about 9 g)
• 1 large egg
• 1 stick butter melted and cooled (113 g)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 250 g
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar 50–100 g
• Zest from 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt 6 g

Plum Topping

• 2 lbs or 8 firm plums preferably Italian prune plums (900 g)
• 2 tablespoons sugar 25 g
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3 g

Instructions

Make the dough

• Warm the milk until lukewarm. Stir in the yeast and let stand for about 5 minutes.
• Add the egg and melted butter. The butter should be warm but not hot.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt. Add the wet ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms.
• Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
• Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 45–60 minutes, or until noticeably puffy.

Prepare the plums

• Wash and dry the plums. Cut them in half, remove the pits, and cut into wedges.

Form the Kuchen

• Butter a rimmed baking sheet or rectangular baking pan.
• Roll or gently stretch the dough into a thin layer, about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick.
• Arrange the plum wedges closely together over the dough. For that beautiful Augsburg look, stand the pieces slightly upright and overlap them a little, like shingles.
• Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the plums.

Bake

• Bake at 375°F (190°C) for approximately 35–45 minutes, until the edges are golden and the plums are tender and beginning to caramelize.
• Let cool until warm. Cut into squares and serve as is, or with lightly sweetened whipped cream.