This Skillet Plum Cake is SO easy to make and super delicious. It’s perfect served with ice cream or whipped cream for dessert, or a plain slice is great for breakfast! You don’t need any special equipment – just a wooden spoon and a cast iron skillet! I’m not kidding when I say this is easy. The buttermilk makes this cake super moist and tender, and the citrus and plums bring great flavor.
For this Skillet Plum Cake, you can use plums or pluots. If you haven’t heard of them, pluots are a mix of plums and apricots. There are many varieties of plum and apricot crosses. Within each group of crosses, there’s still a ton of variety! They can be green, or light pink with speckles, or a deep purple! You’ll have to experiment to find which one you like best. For eating, I prefer the spotted pluots but for baking, I prefer mixes that look closer to a plum because of their rich color and tart flavor.
- Plumcots: These are an equal 50/50 split between plum and apricot. They tend to have smooth skin, but can vary in color, size, and flavor. I think all varieties are delicious!
- Pluots: These are majority plum, so they tend to be more tart than apriums and have smooth skin like a plum.
- Apriums: These are majority apricot, so they tend to be sweeter and have fuzzy skin like apricots.
But use whatever you have! I sometimes even use a mix! I would recommend that you stick to pluots and plumcots over apriums, as they are much sweeter. My eyes tend to be bigger than my stomach when it comes to buying fruit at Costco, so this is the perfect dish for when you have too many plums or pluots becoming overripe!
To make the batter, you will combine the butter and sugars together until fully incorporated. Then add in your egg, and stir until combined. Add your vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Then you will alternate between adding your dry ingredients and buttermilk (beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Your batter will be thick and smooth. Transfer the batter to a greased cast iron skillet and then top with the sliced plums. Bake for about 40-45 minutes at 350F until fully cooked through. Allow the cake to cool in the pan and then slice and serve!
If you love buttermilk cakes, you should also check out my recipe for Buttermilk and Berry Cake!
Skillet Plum Cake
Equipment
- 10 inch cast iron skillet
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature (very soft)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Juice and zest of half a small lemon
- 3/4 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 5 plums or pluots pits removed and sliced into 6 wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a 10 inch cast iron pan by spraying with cooking spray or greasing with butter.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until combined and fluffy. You can use a stand or hand mixer, but you can also use a whisk and wooden spoon.
- Once combined, add the egg and whisk to combine. The batter should be smooth.
- Whisk in the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt). Add half of the dry ingredients to your batter. Stir until combined. Continue to mix until fully incorporated.
- Add all of the buttermilk. Stir to combine. The batter should be very smooth.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients. Stir to form the final batter. It should be nice and smooth! It's a pretty thick batter.
- Add the cake batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Arrange the plum wedges in circular patterns to cover the top of the cake. Press the plums lightly into the batter to hold their place.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and fully cooked through. If the top starts to get too dark, you can cover it with foil until the cake is fully cooked. The cake is cooked through when a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan and then slice and serve!
