How to make the perfect German plum cake

Should this traditional dessert have a dough or pastry base - and which variety of fruit works best?For a place with such lovely plums (complaints to the editor, please), we have a serious dearth of recipes for the glorious annual glut. Crumble, jam and pie just about covers it, as far as I can tell (though all corrections welcome), none of which, delicious as they are, come close to the national institution that is the German plum cake, variously known as zwetschgendatschi, zwetschgenkuchen, quetschekuche or pflaumenkuchen, depending on where you are in the country. I'm going to stick with "plum cake" - though, in fact, bread or a tart would be a more accurate description of a dish that seems to have charmed everyone who's ever set foot in Germany in late summer. Indeed, my mum still waxes lyrical about the zwetschgenkuchen made by the grandmother of the family she stayed with while studying in Frankfurt more than half a century ago. You rarely see them in British bakeries, so if you've never tried one, you're in for a treat. Continue reading...