Old family favourite making a sweet comeback

I bet that when you look into your mum's or grandma's old recipe notebook, one of the first pages has a recipe for pleśniak cake. It used to be a very popular bake, and to this day, we still enjoy coming back to it. It tastes great with cherries, gooseberries, and blueberries, but it's the best with plums.

Although there are still new cake recipes, we still gladly return to some, especially when we remember them from our family home. My mum claims that this cake "always comes out right," but I have to add that it requires a bit of work.

This cake is constructed so that all its layers are delicious and together create a wonderful composition. That's why it disappears from the tray dangerously fast. It's due to a crumbly base, slightly tart fruits, and sweet meringue foam. Who could resist? I recommend a tried and tested recipe for a large 35x25 cm tray.

The most challenging part for beginner bakers may be the base or the shortcrust pastry. It's important to remember that it requires chilling, preferably for about half an hour. The dough can also be prepared a day in advance.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 3 cups of flour
• half a cup of sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 250 grams of cold butter
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Meringue:

  
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 5 egg whites

Fruit layer:

      
• 600 grams plums
• a tablespoon of potato starch
• cinnamon to taste
• a few teaspoons of breadcrumbs

Preparation:

1. Start with the dough: Combine the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar, and diced cold butter to form a crumble. Add the egg yolks and knead into a smooth dough.
2. Form the dough into a ball and divide it into three parts—larger, medium, and smaller. Chill the smallest part of the crumble in the fridge. Add cocoa powder to the medium part to darken the dough. Spread the largest light part of the dough at the bottom of the tray. It can be rolled out beforehand or cut and pressed with fingers. Crumble the cocoa dough on top.
3. Prick the dough base with a fork and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for a shorter time.
4. Mix the chopped and pitted plums with potato starch and cinnamon.
5. Sprinkle the chilled dough at the bottom of the tray with breadcrumbs, and arrange the fruit skin side down.
6. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the sugar one spoonful at a time. The mixture should be thick and glossy. Spread it over the fruit.
7. Crumble or grate the well-chilled smallest part of the dough over the meringue.
8. Bake the pleśniak for about 35-45 minutes at 180°C.