Sunday, September 19, 2010

Plum-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Fact, I always look forward to going back to my parents place. There is always good food, good company and lots of laughter and love involved. My parents are excellent cooks and their theory is to cook more then enough to feed an army. Wasteful? Try telling it to them, but they that feel if everyone has eaten to their heart's content, one will be happy. And happy we are every single time. ;) Left overs? Always taken home to savor the next day by us siblings of course, lol! Their generous move always made me motivated to bake something nice for them. This time is no exception. I made an Italian Plum-Cream Cheese Coffee cake. My parents love fruits and I always make a point to incorporate fruits into my bakes for them to enjoy.
Very rustic looking right? Not as pretty as I hoped it will be, lol! Simple butter bake at the bottom, stone fruits and topped with dollops of cream cheese mixture...how homey and simple can you get with this?
This was made a few weeks back when plums were still in season. But you can definitely replace the plums with any fruits that you fancy. So slow on blogging nowadays, made me feel really out of fashion sometimes, lol! :)

Ingredients for Plum-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake: (Makes an 8" round)
Cake:
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
5 tbsp caster sugar

2 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1.25 cup (150g) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
100ml fresh milk

Filling
8 to 10 plums, cut half and pitted
4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 package of the standard Philadelphia cheese )
1/2 cup (112g) caster sugar
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
  • Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease an 8" spring-form pan or a fluted, deep tart pan. Place parchment paper.
  • For the cake, cream together to butter and sugar will creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and blend until smooth.
  • Fold in flour and salt to make a smooth batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Gently pressed in the halved plums with cut sides down into the cake batter.
  • Cream cheese layer: Mix cream cheese and remaining ingredients in a bowl and whisk till well blended. Spread the mixture over the plums in the cake pan.
  • Bake in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown and appears set, about 45 mins. Cool completely before slicing to serve.
A shot of a sliced piece, looks much better then the whole cake I think. :) At least we get to see the juicy bright purple plums in the cake. :) Perhaps I have pressed the plums way too deep into the cake batter, so cannot really see the fruits from the outside. :P I love the tangy & juicy taste from the plums, a very nice combo with the creamy cream cheese top. And the soft butter cake layer at the bottom makes an excellent compliment to it. ;)
This cake is a really simple and delicious cake to whip up. Try it yourself and you will taste this delicious cake just like me and my family. ;) Happy Baking!!

19 comments:

WendyinKK said...

Ooohhhh!!!! I'd so love a piece of this.
The idea of putting a layer of cream cheese on top is simply super!!

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

It's so great that you have an extended family to help consume all the food- your parents must be very happy to see that all the food which they have cooked is fully consumed. Your plum cake must have also brought alot of delight to them....

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

may i have a slice of this yummy cake, look super tempting! like to have it with a cup of tea.

Anonymous said...

What a lucious cake!! the slight tartness of the fruit must have complemented the cheese cake very well!! wow wow brilliant! :D

Pei-Lin said...

Bee Bee, this coffee cake definitely looks rustic! Very different from the usual American coffee cake I'm accustomed to. Yea, the sliced one looks juicy!

Quinn said...

When do you add in the 100ml milk HBS??? Really want to make this!!! Thanks!

Bakericious said...

Bee Bee, like you, I am always looking forward on Sat, my 娘家日, sun or rain, die die also must go. I ever so sick that I just felt like lying on bed to sleep, I also insisted of going to my mum's place, went there slept for the whole day I also shiok hahaha...

This cake looks delicious, going into my baking list. I am quite assure now that both of us share quite similar taste bud so if you said is nice, I will sure like it too :).

Quinn said...

And you left out the key ingredient, coffee as well Bee Bee! Thanks and will check back for updates!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Wendy! Yeah, anything topped with creamy sweet cream cheese is never a dull idea to me, lol!

Thanks Shirley! Actually my kids weren't much of a fan to this cake due to the tangy flavor of the plums. But yes, the adults loved them. :)

Hahaha, thanks Sonia! Yeah, it is a vary lucious and delightful cake to have during tea time. :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Yan Ee! How are you btw?! Hope everything is well. Thanks for dropping by! :)

Pei-Lin, this recipe IS American. :) I got it from one of the latest American bake book "a passion for baking" by Marcy Goldman. Heehee, those plums has been seating in my fridge for a week before I finally got to them. :P Luckily they are still juicy, lol!

Ooops! My bad! You can add the 100ml milk in together with the eggs. :) you can even substitute it with buttermilk or plain yoghurt, should be excellent too. Btw, great to hear from you again after so long Quinn!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

@Jess: Lol, thanks so much for trusting my taste girl! But I like to eat a lot of things leh. For this cake, if you like cream cheese, yes it will be wonderful. You can substitute the plums with anything you like, can peaches....preferbly those juicy fruits. :)
Yeah! I always die die also must go back to my mum place once a week. Sort of like going back to become my old self in my old comfort zone, heehee.

Quinn said...

Hey Bee Bee...

Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for the concern though. Just one last question. I was googling and found a recipe here:

http://montrealfoodies.com/?p=27

It's the exact same as yours except that you added more sugar in the cake batter, the extra 100ml milk and the omitted extracts from the cheese topping. Just wondering did you adapt this recipe from the same book???

I think it's called a coffee cake so as to describe it's kinda like a 'tea-time' cake, you know....coffee time that sorta thing.

I trust your tastebud, if you say it's good, it has to be....

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Quinn, actually coffee cake is a term for cakes that are generally served during tea / coffee break, and thus the name. So in actual fact there is no coffee added in to this recipe. :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Quinn, yes this recipe is adapted from "a passion for baking" by Marcy Goldmen. You are right! This coffe cake term is just a name used to call cakes served during coffee break. :) I used the exact amount of sugar from the recipe but I omitted the extracts since I didn't want the it mask the original flavor. I added the milk to make the cake more moist because this is actually the 2nd time I made this and I find the first version's cake a wee bit dry. So milk/buttermilk/ yoghurt will be excellent to add into the batter. :) sorry for the confusion, probably should have mentioned that I adapted the recipe and made modifications to it. Anyway hope the cake turns out great for you Quinn! Glad that you are well, take good care!

Quinn said...

Thanks a lot Bee Bee! Will make it when plum is in season, that would not be long. It is the beginning of spring now here Down Under and am absolutely digging the weather and everything fruity and colourful!

I am fine, thank you. Life is back on track and blogging helps ease the mind a lot!

Take care and keep the posts rolling in!

Kitchen Corner said...

It's quite rustic but sometimes rustic cake is an art of pastry, just like this one! It gives me a country side of feeling which goes so well with a cup of tea. I really hope can taste a piece of this :P

busygran said...

Bookmarked! Looks like it's going to take me a lifetime to catch up baking all that I've bookmarked plus the new books I just purchased!

Sanjeeta kk said...

Perfect texture and a beautiful cake!

ReeseKitchen said...

Yum Yum I can almost taste it already..;p All your favourites was inside the cake huh, especially the cheese..:) Something new and interesting for me to learn here..:)