Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice Plum Cake

Eeeeee, look at those perfect little sugar plum circles 🔴🔴🔴 This recipe really encompasses sugar, spice, and everything nice, especially that last part, because it’s vegan & gluten free 😘

I meant to post this recipe before spring popped up because it totally has cozy winter vibes happening, but cake is a year-round thing, so I figure there’s no time like the present. This would be a great rainy day treat, even in the summer.

I found sugar plums at Central Market at the end of this past summer and conjured up images of fairies and princesses and the Nutcracker and all that jazz, and knew I had to make something tasty. I decided to make a simpler, healthier version of sugar plum cake. It’s moist, not overly sweet, and pairs great with coffee 🍰 ☕️

Look at Pretty Girl eyeing my fancy plums. Gurrrrl, back off.

If you can’t find sugar plums at the grocery store, try looking for the smaller sized regular plums. Sugar plums are a variety of Italian plums that are petite and egg shaped as you can see. These are the plums that prunes are made from.

Here are the DRY ingredients you will need:

• 1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Some brands of baking powder include wheat starch. Gluten free baking powders include Rumford, Clabber Girl, Featherweight, and Bakewell Cream. If you can’t find one of these, just eliminate the baking powder all together.

Here are the WET ingredients you will need:

• 2 tbsp melted vegan butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup + 1 heaping tsp coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup organic cane sugar (fine)
• 3/4 cup nondairy milk of your choice (I recommend cashew milk)
• 1 tbsp roasted golden beet

In a separate bowl, combine your wet ingredients. I use roasted beet as an egg substitute because it gives baked goods an incredibly moist texture. Just wash a small golden beet (they actually look orange, they aren’t the red beets), cut the ends off, rub a little coconut oil on it, wrap it in foil, and bake in the oven at 375 degrees until you can stick a knife through it. It takes about 45 mins-1 hour depending on the size of the beet. Put the beet in the blender until smooth. Store the leftover puree in the fridge for smoothies or baking.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.

Take a loaf pan or whatever small baking pan you like, line it with vegan butter, oil, or parchment paper. Pour in batter and smooth with a spatula. Slice up your sugar plums (I used 6) and layer them on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 80-90 minutes. Yes, it takes forever. Check on it periodically so you don’t overcook. 30 minutes into baking, I added some chopped pecans mixed with sugar and cinnamon to the top of the cake. The plums should look nice and glazed and the cake should be browning a little.

Then you have dis…

It’s so beautiful and rich it’s almost painful to cut into it 😭 🔪 but you must because it’s so tasty.

This cake is so surreptitiously healthy that you can totally eat it for breakfast because oatmeal and tofu scramble can get boring real fast (for real though). Enjoy!!

Jillian 💙