This is the dessert or cake my Grossmutter made with plums. Any fruit can be used in its place; it is tasty. Therefore, it is fantastic for the season! It’s a dessert from the Zweibrucken region of Southern Germany. When my daughter turned seven, she asked for this as her “birthday cake,” and it was a hit during the celebration! Add whipped cream over top. Slices of plum and nectarine alternated is my personal favorite method.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 15 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch tart |
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon
- 1 cup butter, cut into chunks
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon water, if needed
- 3 pounds Italian prune plums
- 1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste
Instructions
- Place the flour, 1 1/3 cup of sugar, lemon peel, cinnamon, and butter into the work bowl of a food processor, and process until the mixture turns grainy. Stop the machine, add eggs and egg yolks, and process in the machine until the mixture gathers itself up into one dough ball. If the dough doesn’t ball up, stop the machine, sprinkle several drops of water onto the dough, and process again. Place the dough into a covered container and refrigerate at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
- The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes to warm up.
- Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to make a 9 1/2-inch circle. Dough will be rich and sticky. Scrape up the dough circle, and press into a 9-inch pie dish. Quarter and slice the plums, and place skin sides down onto the dough in a neat ring, starting at the outer edge and working in a neat row towards the center.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the plums are bubbling hot and the crust starts to brown, about 45 minutes.
- Allow the tart to cool, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 451 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 68 g |
| Cholesterol | 106 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 123 mg |
| Sugars | 35 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We lived in Germany for awhile and we have a plum tree. So every year I try a plum recipe to see if it can match the ones in Europe. This was great and my search is over. 5 stars!!
Couldn’t find plums – used mixed berries instead.
Divine. Had enough pastry and plums to make two pies – one as shown but in larger tin and one lattice topped in 9″ pie dish. This is a fantastic pastry – I was worried the bottom would be soggy – it was anything but! Froze the lattice top pie and reheated before serving – still tasted as good as the one we ate fresh. Highly reccommended.
Dough was too thick/high; traditionally known as thinner base
Actually I have a question but can’t find a place to ask. This is an awesome recipe and love love love it. But I was wondering what to leave out or increase to make the dough not rise quite as much? My mothers was not as fluffy and would like to make it more that way. Thanks in advance for any help.
It is important to use ripe Plums! Otherwise it will taste sour, most People dont know how good Plums can taste because they are eating sour unripe Plums. Also for added sweetness its typical to make sugar crumbes to put on top.
I did not care for this.
This is a terrific dessert! I remember having this type of pastry when I lived in Germany. I will definitely make this. This pastry is like comfort food.
My german mother (and grandmother) always added a struesel topping for added goodness and then a dusting of powdered sugar.