There are cakes you bake out of habit, and then there’s Zwetschgendatschi. The Bavarian plum cake with butter streusel is late summer’s best excuse to switch on the air fryer. The base is light and only lightly sweetened, the plums bake up tart-sweet and juicy, and on top sits a thick layer of butter streusel that crunches as the cake knife cuts through. In southern Germany it sits in bakery windows from August for a couple of months, cut into squares and wrapped in paper to eat with your fingers.
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In Denmark, the dark blue plums appear at the greengrocer’s in late summer, and then there’s no way around it. The whole cake is ready in 75 minutes, and the air fryer gives the streusel a crispness that’s hard to achieve in a regular oven.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Why I love Bavarian plum cake with butter streusel in the air fryer
Zwetschgendatschi is everyday southern German baking, not fine pastry. The base is a simple stirred batter, and the whole point is that the fruit should dominate. The plums are laid close together like roof tiles, cut side up, so they caramelize slightly at the edges and keep their tartness in the middle. The butter streusel on top ties it all together: sweet, sandy and crisp against the soft fruit.
The reason I make it in the air fryer is as practical as it is culinary. Heating up a large oven for just one cake rarely makes sense in late summer. The air fryer is ready instantly, keeps the kitchen cool, and its concentrated heat hits the streusel harder than the fruit — exactly the balance the cake needs.
The difference between an air fryer and an oven
An air fryer is a small oven with a very powerful fan. The air moves faster and over a shorter distance, and that means two things for the cake. The surface browns faster, which is a gift for streusel. In return, the temperature needs to stay low, so the base has time to bake through before the top gets too dark — hence the 160°C instead of the higher temperature most cake recipes use in a regular oven.
My kitchen test of Bavarian plum cake with butter streusel
I baked the first version in my Philips XXL at 160°C, and 35 minutes is exactly the point where the streusel has taken on colour without the plums cooking down into juice. With 25 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of cooling on top, the whole cake lands at 75 minutes. The 15 minutes of resting isn’t negotiable — cut it right away and the crisp surface collapses into the hot fruit juice.
I’ve also tried it without a thin layer of breadcrumbs between the base and the fruit, and the difference is clear: without it, the base stays damp in the middle. The air fryer’s heat also hits the edges before the middle, so I rotate the tin about half a turn roughly halfway through baking.
Lay the plums close together, edge to edge, cut side up. They shrink during baking, and gaps between the fruit turn into dry patches in the finished cake.
Tips and tricks from the author: Morten Jensen
The common mistakes and how to avoid them
The first mistake is too much heat. Many people turn it up to save time, but the streusel burns long before the base is baked through — 160°C is the number, and there’s no shortcut. The second is a batter that’s been stirred too long. The base should only be combined until the flour disappears, otherwise you develop gluten and get a chewy cake instead of a light one. The third is about the butter in the streusel: it needs to be fridge-cold and rubbed into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. If you use soft butter, it melts together into a flat slab that bakes hard instead of staying crisp.
How to serve Bavarian plum cake with butter streusel
The cake is best warm, but it keeps well until the next day. Here’s how I usually serve it:
- Lightly whipped cream without sugar — the tartness of the plums needs a counterpoint
- Cold vanilla custard or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if the cake is still warm
- A cup of black coffee, the way they do it in Munich
- A dusting of icing sugar just before serving, if the streusel has taken on a lot of colour
Storage and reheating
The cake keeps for two to three days under a tea towel at room temperature. An airtight lid or cake tin makes the streusel soft, so let it breathe. If you need to store it longer, it freezes well in slices. Reheating is easy in the air fryer: a couple of minutes at the same 160°C gives the streusel its crunch back, while a microwave just makes it damp.
Zwetschgendatschi rewards patience over technique. If you have ripe plums and cold butter, it can hardly go wrong — and the smell in the kitchen as the streusel takes on colour is half the pleasure.
FAQ
Yes, but the result will be wetter. Prune plums have firmer flesh and less juice, so they hold their shape during baking. If you use round plums, sprinkle a tablespoon of breadcrumbs on the base first to soak up the juice.
Almost always because the butter was too soft. Use fridge-cold butter, work quickly with your fingertips, and keep the streusel cold while you get the rest ready.
Recipe
Bavarian plum cake with butter streusel in the airfryer
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Airfryer size
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Recommended equipment
- 1 Air fryer
- 1 Springform pan - 18 cm
- 2 Mixing bowl
- 1 Electric mixer
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Parchment paper - For the airfryer
Shopping list
Ingredients
Cake batter
Prune plums
- 500 g prune plums (Soaks up the juice from the plums)
- 1 tbsp breadcrumbs (Suger saften fra blommerne)
How to make it
Preparation
- Beat 100 g soft butter, 90 g sugar and 1 tsp vanilla sugar pale and fluffy for 2-3 minutes with an electric whisk. Beat in 1 pcs egg, until the mixture is even.
- Line the base of an 18 cm springform tin with baking paper and grease the sides. Spread the batter evenly in the tin, sprinkle 1 tbsp breadcrumbs over the top, and arrange the plum halves tightly in circles with the cut side up.
Cooking in the airfryer
- Preheat the airfryer to 160°C.
- Place the springform tin in the middle of the basket and bake the cake at 160°C for 20 minutes. Keep the basket closed the whole time — the batter needs to rise undisturbed.
- Insert a cake tester or a thin knife into the centre of the cake — it should come out without any wet batter. Give it 3-5 minutes more at 160°C if it isn’t baked all the way through.
Serving
- Let the cake cool in the tin for 15 minutes before releasing the sides. This lets the juice from the plums settle, so the cake can be sliced without falling apart.
- Cut the cake into wedges and serve it warm with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Our notes for the recipe
Use proper prune plums rather than round plums — they have firmer flesh and release less juice, so the base doesn’t turn soggy. The breadcrumbs between the batter and fruit soak up any juice that escapes anyway. Crunchy streusel:
The butter for the streusel needs to be fridge-cold, and the crumbs should stay chilled until you sprinkle them on. Cold crumbs melt more slowly and turn crisp instead of spreading out over the cake. Variation:
Grate the zest of half a lemon into the batter, or mix 2 tbsp chopped almonds into the streusel for extra bite. The cake also works with apricots or cherries. Serving:
Warm cake with cinnamon whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It also tastes great cold with coffee the next day. Airfryer size:
The springform tin needs to stand freely in the basket with room for air circulation all the way around. If your airfryer is small, use a 16 cm tin and extend the baking time by 5 minutes.
Your notes for the recipe
Nutrition per serving (Guideline)
Important about shelf life and nutrition
Nutrition per serving (guideline): Calculations are based on data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Shelf life (guideline): Shelf life data is provided, as far as possible, by public institutions, including national food authorities. Our information is therefore only indicative, and it is your responsibility to obtain and calculate accurate information about shelf life and nutrition for all recipes on airfryerkogebogen.dk
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