Рецепт Baking| German Plum Cake (Pflaumenkuchen) With Ricotta & Fresh Thyme … #MM
“Blues is to jazz what yeast is to bread. Without it, it’s flat.”
Carmen McRae
My very last stash of plums found their way into this yeasted dough German Plum Cake {Pflaumenkuchen}. Twitter seems to have taken over as the menu planner for me and PAB! Such is the power of this addictive and inspiring social networking site that I often bake in an auto mode. These days, my passion for fruit in desserts / baking is fueled by tweets, be it this No Bake Upside-down Mango Quark Cheesecake for #pieformikey or the Plum Ginger Summer Fruit Cake for #baketogether. This yeasted German Plum Cake {Pflaumenkuchen was no different. Even though I’ve been missing from twitter largely over the past few months, the tweets get delivered to my mailbox.
MeetaWFLH MeetaWFLH: Ladies hope you will be there for #MONTHLYMINGLE this month. Yeasted Doughs @lifesafeast @vindee @cooksisterblog @Junglefrog @monawise
Aug 16, 1:55 PM via HootSuite
The tempting tweet from Meeta found me while I was knee deep in a baby food shoot and production for a client. So much baby food Mr PAB asked? I looked at him incongruously; didn’t he know? The pooch knew where it was headed; she is a baby after all! My kids never had the luxury of a risotto when they were babies … the pooch scored a big high five over them!Work wound up, and before I knew it I was happily looking at a bowl of rising yeasted dough. It’s so warm here these days, the dough doubled really quick. BLISS! I didn’t do any hard work for kneading the dough silky smooth … it was the Thermomix that turned out perfect looking dough in a couple of minutes. I have never loved working with dough this much!The recipe is adapted from one I had bookmarked from the very talented Mowies blog quite a while ago. Maybe I was waiting for Kulsum to host the delightful Monthly Mingle this month; her call – Yeasted Doughs. Could I resist it? Niyet! No way! I made wonderful yeasted Nutella Walnut & Orange Rolls in Feb last year, and I was ready for yeasted dough again! Meetas tweet just pushed me out of my procrastination and had me scraping a vanilla bean! All thanks to addictive, inspiring twitter… and my fab foodie friends, the dough was patted into place when I contemplated adding some homemade ricotta onto it. To perk it up, I sweetened it with some deep muscavado sugar {thank you Sheetal}, and a little low fat cream for good measure. Worked a charm!This is my twist to the Pflaumenkuchen … and it’s certainly a yummy one. A dusting of castor or vanilla sugar and a drizzle of low fat unsweetened cream completes the magic of this cake. Both Mr PAB and the lad compared it to the Plum Ginger Summer Fruit Cake … somewhat similar flavours they said!
This German traditional cake tasted better with cream as the plums were rather tart. I think a drizzle of cream adds a certain indulgent feel to it … like it’s dressed to mingle!! And just in case you’re wondering where the fresh thyme is, look carefully and you shall see two small sprigs. Sadly, that is all left of my poor plant. This naughty cocker has been having a party outside and the garden, including the herb patch, is history. She chomps her way through all my plants while I try to work, and then sits and eyes my food settings in great hope that she will get a few crumbs! Not a chance!!
Recipe: German Plum Cake (Pflaumenkuchen) With Ricotta & Fresh Thyme
Summary: This is my twist to the Pflaumenkuchen, with some ricotta added to it as topping; it’s certainly a yummy one. A dusting of castor or vanilla sugar and a drizzle of low fat unsweetened cream completes the magic of this cake.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 65g butter
- 220ml milk
- 400g plain flour
- 1 packet (7g) dry yeast
- 1 egg
- A pinch of salt
- Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
- 65g sugar
- Ricotta topping
- 175gms ricotta {homemade recipe here}
- 50ml low fat cream
- 65gm muscavado sugar
- 1kg plums, stones removed, quartered
- 1 small bunch of thyme
- Castor sugar for sprinkling
Method:
Pour the milk into a pan, add the butter, place over a medium heat until the butter dissolves into the milk. Allow to cool slightly.
Place flour, yeast, egg, pinch of salt, vanilla bean seeds and sugar int a bowl. Add the warm {not hot} melted milk/butter mixture and mix by hand or with the hook attachment of your mixer until smooth. {Thermomix: Speed 6, 7 seconds, then Knead for 2 minutes. Do not leave machine unattended while kneading}
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow the dough to double in size.
Blend the ricotta with the muscavado sugar and cream until smooth and creamy. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 10 seconds. Scrape sides, repeat again}.
Preheat the oven to 175˚C and line a baking tray {30cm x 40cm} with baking parchment.
Dust a working area with flour, remove the dough from the bowl and knead again. Roll out onto the baking tray making sure to cover the whole surface including the corners. {I patted it into place}
Spread the blended ricotta over the dough, and cover it with plum quarters, and a sprinkling of vanilla sugar if desired. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool, then sprinkle with caster sugar and fresh thyme leaves.
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India