Olive Oil Plum Cake Recipe (2024)

I made the batter for this cake and thought it looked exceptionally dry. After looking at comments, I realized it is a flawed recipe. I added 3 large spoonfuls of yogurt to the batter and voila! A moist, tasty cake (though rather humble in appearance/thickness). I topped mine with pears and blackberries instead of plums.

Probably the worst dessert I have ever made. My husband took one bite and set it aside. "Cake" is like dry Styrofoam. Threw the entire thing out. Don't bother.

The first rule of the internet is don't read the comments. The exception to this rule is that you should ALWAYS read the NYTCooking comments. If I were a more prudent baker, I would have read the helpful comments posted before mine and saw this cake requires 1. moisture (yogurt sounds good!) and 2. switching the whole wheat and all purp ratios. I followed the recipe exactly and at the last minute added an olive oil honey glaze before baking. Basically, a delicious cookie with jammy plums on top.

Dry but tasty. The cake is almost scone-like, especially around the edges. Interestingly, it was better on the 2nd & 3rd day. I think I would make it again.

Not flawed, and not too dry. Made as instructed, was perfect. Note, we do not favor overly sweet cakes/desserts. The crumb is wonderful. Will def make again!

A great cake once solved for a conversion error in the recipe. Use 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup all purpose instead of what is shown. Also, best to bake in tart pan with removable bottom as it is very thin. But is delicious!!!

This was so good. I read through all of the notes and was a bit concerned about some of the negative reviews but decided to go for it anyway. It sounded too delicious to pass up and my Italian plum trees were overflowing with fruit.I followed the preparation instructions meticulously; the only adjustment I made was to the ingredients. The recipe called for 120 grams of whole wheat flour. Instead, I used 75g of almond flour and 45g of whole wheat flour. Incredibly delicious, thank you!!

I wish I had read the comments before making this. It is dryer than the Gobi desert. It is a Saharan Desert Dessert. Think plums on a dog biscuit. The plums were nice. The cake got thrown out.

I also read the comments and then added a cup and a half of fresh ricotta and it is wonderful. I also substituted the white sugar for raw sugar which made it less sweet, which we prefer.

Disappointing, as could be more moist, especially around the edges.

Awful cake don't make it.

Surprisingly dry for an olive oil cake. Unlikely to make again.

I should have read the comments…this cake was dry as dust.

I added some frozen blueberries and raspberries and sprinkled some turbinado sugar on before it went in the oven and it turned out well! Not too dry at all. I did switch the amounts of whole and AP flour though.

I found this recipe to be incredibly dry. I’ve baked this cake twice to try and figure it out, after the first one was almost inedible with how dry it came out. Did I over mix? Over cook? I decided to make it again after the failed first attempt. I mixed it in my stand mixer per the recipe (if I made it a third time, I would mix in the dry by hand), and baked 40 minutes per the low end of baking time. Still very dry, almost inedible.

Beautiful but disappointingly DRY. Wish I had read the comments beforehand. Will definitely try again, following suggested adjustments. Since I’m not one to throw away food, I may try microwaving a few seconds on a damp paper towel. Or if that fails, there’s always whipped cream:)

The directions for the recipe do not say when to add the baking powder and salt so I nearly forgot them.

Dry as sawdust. I cut the baking time from the suggested 40-45 minutes down to 30 minutes, given how thin the cake batter was but still not a good bake. Unfortunately, a waste of beautiful plums. It looked gorgeous. Too bad the taste doesn’t match up with its appearance. Very disappointing.

Not dry at all! Highly recommend to use the metric measurements - especially for the flour as the cup measurements can vary widely depending on how much you pack the flour down in the cup.I have made this cake several times now and it is on its way to becoming a favourite.

Bad. Even with a big glop of yogurt and flipping the flour types, it was so so dry. Not good.

I like the crispy crust but after mixing e cream ale it seems to stiff which usually equates to dry in the finished product. I added an extra 1/4 cup of fruity olive oil and I think it helped.

Horrible , sadly I did not read the comments until after. I made two for a special evening and the guest barely touched it, Both ended in the garbage

Made this with prune plums from France that we bought at the old market square in Leuven, Belgium. In C, we heated the oven to 180C, and reduced the baking time to 35 min with a convection oven. I substituted the AP flour with almond flour and used 85 gr of crystallized sugar. Vanilla came in the form of a 10gr vanilla sugar which added a bit of sugar in. Instead of raw sugar, we sprinkled cinnamon and dotted the fruit with several squeezes of lemon juice. Delightful tart mid morning!

Make this cake the day before serving, giving the plum juices time to seep into the otherwise dry cake.

Agree with those who said it was too dry. The plums were delicious and the cake looked beautiful! Would love a comment from NYTimes Cooking for tips on this recipe

A delicious and lovely cake! I followed directions, using metric weight measures, so I can't say if there was a problem with some volume measures. Following Jayapold's suggestion, I substituted 125 g whole wheat flour with 75 g almond flour & 45 g whole wheat, to enhance the almond flavour. Excellent! Not at all dry. This cake is along the lines of a traditional German "Pflaumenkuchen" -- a tasty vehicle for fruit -- so don't skimp on the plum slices on top: Overlap heavily for max flavour.

On its own this cake is almost bizarrely dry; I can’t fathom why the author would have crafted such a strange recipe. The ratio of flours is also off - too much whole wheat flour and not enough moisture made for almost a hardtack biscuit type of ‘cake.’ However, following other comments that suggested less whole wheat flour and addition of yogurt or ricotta, and it’s transformed to a delicious and simple cake that seems ancient - like you could be sitting in a sunny Roman garden.