36 | 52 Poppyseed Quark Cake with Prunes and Cinnamon Crumbles

Another week, another plum recipe. (#sorrynotsorry)

'Tis the season. Of yummy purple, oval plums. Or prunes?

Yes, let's take a moment and talk about those plums/prunes.

Here in Switzerland (and Germanya and Austria), we love our Zwetschgen. And our Pflaumen, too.

According to the Wikipedia, Zwetschgen are a a subspecies of the plum (Pflaume).

Zwetschge = prune, or common plum = Prunus domestica subsp. domestica

Pflaume = (round) plum = Prunus domestica

The easiest way to keep them apart is actually their shape and color.

Zwetschgen are oval and very dark blue/purple, Pflaumen are bigger and round and of a lighter purple (or even yellow or red).

YAY! You might have even learned something new today!

If not - sorry to have bored you with all these German, English, and Latin terms...

Oh, but I forgot. This recipe also calls for Quark. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about, follow this link... 

Poppyseed Quark Cake with Prunes and Cinnamon Crumbles

From Ich bin dann mal kurz in der Küche

For the bottom and crumbles
100 g (1 stick minus 1 tablespoon) butter, cold
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
1 egg
pinch of salt
180 g (1 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon) flour

 

For the filling

250 g (8.8 oz) quark

1 egg

1 tablespoon cornstarch

50 g (1/4 cup) sugar

100 g (3.5 oz) poppyseeds, ground

Plus

1 teaspoon cinnamon

300 g (10.5) prunes/plums, halved and pitted

• For the bottom and crumbles, cut cold butter into pieces. Add remaining bottom/crumble ingredients and knead (with your hands) until you get a smooth dough. Let cool for 30 minutes.  
• For the filling, mix together all filling ingredients. 
• Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F). 
• Put 2/3 of the bottom/crumbles dough evenly onto the bottoms of 2 small, round springform pans (20 cm/8 in). Spoon poppyseed filling over dough and distribute prune halves on top of it. 
• Combine the remaining dough for the crumbles with cinnamon and crumble over prunes. 
• Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool completely before serving (and ideally serve the next day).

My modifications:

None. Except for using two (instead of one) 20 cm springform pans which was perfect for the amounts given.

The taste:

Good on the first day, definitely a lot better on the second day so try to be patient ;) 

I'm not the biggest fan of poppyseeds but I still liked it. It does taste more like fall than summer (at least to me) so save this for the end of plum season...

What's more commonly available where you live: Zwetschgen or Pflaumen?

Do you have a preference if you can buy both?

17/52 Lemon Poppy-Seed Cake

I totally had no idea which cake to make this week. So I started thinking...

Something simple and plain but not boring.

Something healthy but not too healthy.

Something with a little less calories but still full of flavor.

Something citrusy to match the sun that's coming out more and more.

And after random searching, I found this recipe and decided to give it a go:

Lemon Poppy-Seed Cake

Adapted from Eating Well

Cake:

350 g (2 1/2 cups) flour

25 g (1/4 cup) poppy seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soday

1/4 teaspoon salt

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk

50 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon zest, freshly grated

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 eggs

2 egg whites

300 g (1 1/4 cup) sugar

Glaze:

75 g (3/4 cup) powdered sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

• Preheat oven to 180°C (360°F).
• Mix flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
• Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice in a cup or bowl.
• Beat eggs and egg whites with sugar on high for about 5 minutes until thick and pale yellow.
• Taking turns, fold in flour mix and buttermilk mix with a spatula.

• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
• Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes before taking out of pan.
• For the glaze, sift powdered sugar into a bowl, add lemon juice and water and mix well. With a brush, coat cake with glaze and let cool and dry completely.

My modifications:

The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour. I only used all-purpose flour because that's what I had at home.

I did not toast the poppy seeds in a dry skillet just because I was a bit lazy.

I used sunflower seed oil instead of canola oil.

For the glaze I used lime juice to give it extra citrus flavor. I also didn't poke any holes into the cake before glazing which still worked fine.

The taste:

I love it. The cake is moist, light and fluffy. The lemon or lime glaze adds flavor and makes it more interesting. You can't really taste the poppy seeds but maybe that's because I didn't toast them beforehand.

What cake are you in the mood for at the moment?