Plum cake fruit in these open tarts or flans is cut into suitably sized pieces and the cake is glazed: red glaze is recommended for red plum and rhubarb flans, whereas apricot glaze is recommended in yellow plum and apricot flans. The German plum cake, known as "Zwetschkenkuchen", can be found all over the country, although its home is Bavaria. In chef Robert Carrier's recipe for it, the base is made from yeast pastry rather than often used shortcrust pastry, because the yeast pastry "soaks up the juice form the plums without becoming soggy". In Italy, plum cake is known by the
Plum cake to as "Pflaumenkuchen" or "Zwetschgenkuchen". Other plum-based cakes are found in French, Italian and Polish cooking. The term "plum cake" and "fruit cake" have become interchangeable. Since dried fruit is used as a sweetening agent and any dried fruit used to be described as "plums", many plum cakes and plum puddings do not contain the plum fruit now known by that name. (Plum pudding is a similar, richer dish prepared with similar ingredients, cooked by steaming the mixture rather than baking it.) The term "plum" originally referred to prunes, raisins or grapes. Thus the so-called plums from which English plum