Battle of the Plum Cakes (NY Times Plum Torte vs Helen’s Plum Cake)

00:00 Intro
00:23 NY Times Plum Torte Recipe
04:45 NY Times Plum Torte Tasting
05:26 Helen’s Plum Cake Recipe
08:09 Helen’s Plum Cake Tasting
09:27 Ease of Preparation Comparison

NY Times Plum Torte (with Helen’s Clarifications)
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200g granulated sugar
113g unsalted butter at 60-64F (16-18C)
142g unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1.4g salt (1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher or 1/4 tsp table salt)
2 large eggs at cool room temp (100g weighed without shell)
Plum halves (enough to cover the top of the cake -- about 750g)
Sugar and cinnamon, for topping

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) with a rack in the middle.

Beat the butter and sugar with a paddle attachment of a mixer until light and fluffy. Here is how. Start on low and then crank up to medium. Mix until the mixture is homogeneous, sticks to the sides of the mixer and resembles wet sand. Scrape down the bowl and beat on medium for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl again and beat for 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl again and beat for 30 seconds. By the end, the butter should be at or below 70F (21C). If it gets warmer, stop beating immediately and proceed with the recipe.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and eggs, and pulse until the flour is moistened. Run the mixer on low just until most of the flour is incorporated. Finish mixing by hand with a spatula. Stop as soon as no dry streaks of flour remain.

Scrape the batter into a 9” (23cm) spring form pan. According to the NY Times, it can be larger or smaller, but I haven’t tested that. Place the plum halves on top of the batter skin side up as snuggly as possible. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake until a knife comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool 30 minutes and enjoy warm or at room temp.

The original NY Times Plum Torte Recipe: [ Ссылка ]

Helen’s Plum Cake
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*** Streusel Topping:***
16g unbleached all-purpose flour
26g granulated sugar
15g cold butter, cut into small pieces

In a small bowl, mix together with fingers until it looks like coarse bread crumbs. Put in the fridge until needed.

***The cake:***

Note: The temperature of the eggs and dairy is not important. They can be straight from the fridge.

700g pitted plums, cut into bite size pieces
3 eggs (150g weighed without shell)
2.8g salt (1 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher or 1/2 tsp Table salt)
200g granulated sugar
150g sour cream (or labneh if you can get it)
150g heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
230g unbleached all-purpose flour
15g baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Butter a 13x9 (33x23cm) baking dish.

Put the eggs and salt into a large bowl and beat with a whisk until foamy and slightly paler, about 1 min. Add the sugar in two additions, beating thoroughly in between until pale yellow (about 1 min of beating after each sugar addition). Beat in the sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla.

Add the flour and baking powder and fold in with a spatula. Don’t mix too much. There should be no streaks of dry flour or big lumps, but little lumps are ok. Fold in the plums. Pour into a buttered dish. Sprinkle with the streusel topping and cinnamon if you want. Bake in the middle of the oven for 50 min or until the tester comes out clean. Let cool for at least 1 hour. Leftovers will keep at room temp till the next day.

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