Plum cake in a significant tradition of cake making: "...throughout the districts of the Loire, the Dordogne, the Lot and the Périgord, there [was] hardly a celebration, a wedding feast or celebration at which the dessert [did] not include some sort of plum or mirabelle tart, made with fresh or dried plums or jam according to the season." The Mirabelle plum is a specific cultivar used to make "Tarte aux mirabelles" (plum tart). A "Galette aux fruits" is a type of galette made with yeast dough and covered with previously cooked fruit in season, such as plums (or quinces, apples, apricots). The
Plum cake many who ate a light style of plum cake with tea, into which he would dip the cake, which he described as bun-like with currants "dotted here and there". Elizabeth David wrote that "Christmas mincemeat and Christmas plum pudding and cake are all such typical examples of the English fondness for spiced fruit mixtures that it seems almost unnecessary to include recipes for them ..." Plum cakes were raised by whipping air into the cake batter, rather than by the use of yeast. A range of plum cakes and puddings were published in the popular Book of Household Management (published