Yeasted Plum Cake with Walnut Crumble
·Making the yeasted dough in a stand mixer
Put both types of flour into a mixing bowl. Add the yeast, sugars, salt and lemon zest. Stir together, make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk, cream, egg yolk, rum and warm melted butter. Knead in a stand mixer for about 10 minutes, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.
Letting the dough rise
Cover the bowl with the risen dough with a clean tea towel. Leave it to rise in a warm place for about 1 to 1.5 hours. The dough needs to at least double in size, so give it plenty of time.
Preparing the plums and walnut crumble
Wash the plums, remove the stones and halve them. Toss them with cinnamon and poppy seeds. In a smaller bowl, rub together the cold butter, sugar, coarse flour, ground walnuts, salt and cinnamon with your fingers until crumbly. Let the finished crumble rest in the fridge.
Assembling the cake in the tin
Roll out the risen dough to fit a tin lined with baking paper. Arrange the plum halves cut-side up on top, then generously scatter over the crumble. Leave the assembled cake in the tin for another 15 minutes to finish rising.
Baking the plum cake
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Bake the cake for about 30 minutes, until the edges are beautifully golden and the crumble is crisp.
Brushing the edges at the end
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, brush the bare edges of the dough with a mixture of melted butter and rum. This gives the dough a wonderful aroma.