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 leavened with yeast. In New England, large election cakes weighing around would traditionally be served while people waited for election results. It has been stated that the first published election cake recipe appeared in 1796 in "American Cookery". Plum cake recipes in the fruitcake style appeared in early cookbooks in the Southern United States, and did not actually call for plums. After 1830 plum cake was often referred to as fruit cake or black cake. In 1885, in a description of plum cake that sounds like plum pudding, it was described as "mucilaginous" - a solid, dark-colored, thick cake with