Greatest Plum Coffee Cake

Do you have some plums left over and need a great breakfast coffee cake. Here is my mother's recipe that she used to make every summer when plums were fresh.

PLUM COFFEE CAKE

Rich Roll Dough

1 pkg. dry granular yeast

¼ c. lukewarm water

1/3 c sugar

1 t. salt

¾ c milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 t. grated lemon rind

½ t mace or ground cardamom

¼ c butter or shortening, melted

Soften yeast in the lukewarm water with ½ t. of the sugar. Let stand 10 minutes. Add remaining sugar and salt to hot milk, stir and cool to lukewarm. Combine softened yeast with cooled milk mixture and stir well. Add eggs, lemon rind and half the flour, sifted with spice, and beat until smooth. Beat in the cooled butter, then add remaining flour and stir thoroughly. Turn out on lightly floured board. Cover the dough, and let it rest 10 minutes before kneading. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes) using not more than ¼ additional flour for kneading. Do not add excess flour on board. Sweet roll dough must be soft and too much flour kneaded in will make the finished rolls “bready” instead of delicate, light and flaky. Round up into a smooth ball, place in a clean grease bowl, turn once to bring greased side to top. Cover with waxed paper and a clean towel and let rise in a warm place (about 86 degrees) until doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Dough is then ready to shape into coffee cake.

1 recipe Rich Roll Dough

1 t. cinnamon

2T flour

Preheat over to375 degrees

Divide dough into 4 equal parts and spread into four well-greased pans (9 inch rounds). Brush surface of dough with melted butter (about 2 T). Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon and sprinkle half of it evenly over the four cakes. Arrange plums, seeded and cut into fourths, over the cakes as close together as possible. Sprinkle rest of sugar mixture over the plums. Cover with a tea towel and let rise until double in bulk (about 1 hour)

Bake 25 minutes at 375 degrees)

Dust with powdered sugar before serving.