Coffee Cake with Plums and Walnut Cardamom Streusel

**This post originally appeared on my other blog, YinMomYangMom.com.**

When I was a little girl, I remember spending many afternoons at our community swimming pool. My mom would always pack her beach bag with everything we’d need for the day: sunscreen, floaties, towels, and plenty of snacks to nibble on. We would lay our beach towels out on the soft grass and slurp on peaches, cherries, nectarines, and plums as the sun warmed our skin. They were so sweet and juicy, and even at five years old I knew that these summer fruits were something special, only to be enjoyed at the peak of their summertime season.

I’d love for my kids to have those same kinds of delicious memories.  This summer we’ve kept our fruit basket brim-full of all those yummy stone fruits (and more!) for munching out of hand, but I’ve also enjoyed baking them into lots of delicious dishes.  Here’s a little recap of some of YinMom YangMom’s best summer stone fruit recipes, just click the pic and it’ll take you right to the post/recipe:

Stone Fruit White Sangria

Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone and Crushed Biscoff

Incividual Cherry Cobblers In A Jar

Apricot Almond Clafoutis

…and, to round out the stone-fruit-a-palooza, this fabulous recipe for Plum Coffee Cake with Spiced Walnut Streudel!

This will make your whole house smell sweet and warm and delicious for days!

I took a few different recipes and modified them to make my most perfectly delicious coffee cake.  This one is great for a Sunday brunch, or if you’re having another mom over for a play date, you can sit at your kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a warm slice of this cake, and gab, while the kiddies play (or, fight, as is usually more accurate in my house!).

Coffee Cake with Plums and Spiced Walnut Streudel
(adapted from the following: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Plum-Streusel-Coffeecake-13137, http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-plum-cak-30243, and http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/plum-coffee-cake-brown-sugar-cardamom-streusel.aspx)

For the Streudel:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
contents of about 4 cardamom pods, ground in a mortar and pestle, or about 1/8 teaspoon pre-ground cardamom
1/2 cup walnuts
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

If you are not familiar with cardamom, it’s a really interesting warm spice.  It comes in these little pods:

…which you just crush a bit, and inside are the aromatic seeds.  Discard the papery husk and grind the contents.

Cardamom is used a lot in savory Indian dishes, but aso as a sweet spice in Nordic desserts.  If you like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, or ginger, you will probably also like cardamom.  You can order it from my shop: whole cardamom pods, or ground cardamom.

Throw all the ingredients together in a bowl and mix ’em up with a fork!  Easy!  This is my new favorite way to make streusel.

Put the streusel aside, if you can tear your nose away from the intoxicating aromas, and get going on the cake.

For the Cake:
6 plums, pitted and cut into bite-sized chunks
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
several scratches of fresh nutmeg, ground on a microplane, or
1/8 teaspoon pre-ground nutmeg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Begin by beating the butter and sugar together until really light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat to fluff again.

Now add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla and mix.

Stir in the nutmeg, flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder to combine.

Pour half the cake batter into a greased 8″ round cake pan.  Top with half the plums.

Now spread the rest of the batter over the plums and tumble the remaining plums on top.  Sprinkle on the streusel and bake for an hour at 350 degrees.

What a special way to start a late summer morning!

Here is a printable 4″x6″ recipe card for you:  Plum Coffee Cake with Walnut Cardamom Streusel Recipe Card

I really hope you make this cake!  It’s so comforting and delish and I put a lot of love into it!

What’s your favorite thing to bake with summer fruit?  Leave us a comment and tell us all about it!  We love exchanging recipes with our friends…

And be sure to let me know how you like this one!