Zwetchgenkuchen

 The recipe that I've been using is here, but this year we had a whole thread on Facebook and some rabbi friends put up their families' versions. The cake is based on Italian Prune Plums. Their season is short and coincides, magically, with Tishri. When I see the plums out at Weavers Way, it's equivalent to a shofar blast. I find apple cakes visually dull and not especially scrumptious. This cake is pretty!
What word is more fun to say than Zwetschgenkuchen, really?  The recipe, it turns out, was in the NYTimes and became super popular. Though it doesn't make the point that baking them is a Yekkeh Rosh Hashanah tradition.

• Rabbi Sharon Stiefel Here's my mother's family recipe for Plum Cake. 

  September 17 at 11:16pm · Unlike · 1
• Her family from Rhineland/Westphalia called it Plaumkuchen. My father's family from southern Germany called it Zwetschgenkuchen. She writes in the cookbook Yesterday's Mavens, Today's Foodies that she reduced the fat content in the 'Muerbeteig' pastry.
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• 5 tablespoon sugar, divided 
• 2 tsp baking powder, 
• 3/4 c. margarine or butter
• 1 large egg 
• 3 lbs ripe Italian plums, pitted and quartered lengthwise
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• Preheat oven to 375. Spray an 11 x 16 jelly roll pan with cooking spray. 
• In a food processor process the flour, 2 tbls of the sugar, and baking powder for 10 seconds. 
• Cut in the margarine or butter and process until finely crumbled. 
• Add the egg and process until the mixture forms a ball around the blade. 
• Press the dough evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the plums, cut side up and slightly overlapping, in 6 lengthwise rows on top of the dough. 
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is golden and the plums begin to juice. Mix the remaining 3 tbls of the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle the top of the cake with this mixture while the cake is still warm. The cake is delicious even without whipping cream.

Version 2, from Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus (Ben's mom)

• September 17 at 8:43am · Like · Remove Preview
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  Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus My recipe comes from my mother's family in southern Germany, on a hand-written index card. I've never used cinnamon, and our special touch is that the plums soak in a little brandy before they go onto the dough. Here it is: 
• PLUM KUCHEN Family recipe from Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
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  1. Cut almost 4 pounds of prune plums in half, and place in large bowl, and sprinkle with sugar (half a cup? - enough so they're "sugared".) [I always wear disposable gloves when I’m cutting & pitting the plums so my fingers don’t turn purple.]
  2. Add 2 Tbsp. brandy to the plums and let sit.
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  3. Mix together 2 cups flour & 2 tsp. baking powder. Set aside.
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  4. With mixer, blend 1 stick softened butter (or margarine to make it pareve) with 3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, then add flour mixture.
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  5. Spread dough on greased jelly-roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides). It will be very sticky and hard to spread, but use the heel of your hand & fingertips to spread it evenly over the entire pan.
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  6. Place plum halves, open-side up, on dough.
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  7. Mix together (some of) the juice left from the plums with chopped nuts (I use walnuts, but you could try others) and breadcrumbs, until it's a consistency that you can crumble over the top of the plums.
  8. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes. Cool, then cut into squares. Yum.