Fall Flavors: The Best Persimmon Cake Recipe
Use up your backyard persimmons with this easy persimmon cake recipe. It’s rustic, with fall spiced flavors and a fruit topping. Read through the post for serving suggestions and recipe modifications, or click the jump to recipe button!
Persimmons and Asian Cuisine
My grandparents have a fuyu persimmon tree in their backyard in California, and our family is blessed to enjoy their harvest every year. Many of my California friends (both Japanese and Chinese American) have persimmon trees, and they’re always looking for ways to use up their persimmons before they go bad. Now that I’ve moved to Seattle, I miss the plentiful persimmon harvests and am reduced to paying exorbitant prices at our local fancy grocery store. I can usually find them for sale around October, but technically different varieties of persimmon can be harvested throughout the fall, from September to sometimes even December.
Persimmon is an important fruit in Japanese culture. Some regions of Japan are specifically known for their dried persimmons, called hoshigaki. Naturally, Japanese recipes for persimmon desserts are plentiful! This recipe was developed from a mixture of recipes from my Japanese church cookbook and other Japanese persimmon recipes I saw from home cooks online.
What does Persimmon Cake Taste Like?
This cake is a nice blend of rustic American baking and Japanese home cooking. As with many Asian desserts, it’s not too sweet! The cake itself has a base similar to a pound cake, made from creaming butter and sugar and then adding eggs and flour. I like to include small pieces of persimmon mixed in to the batter as well. With cinnamon and nutmeg, the spices are reminiscent of pumpkin pie and fall baking. The cake is then topped with chopped fresh persimmons in a brown sugar syrup. For me, this really highlights the light flavor of persimmon without overpowering sweetness or creaminess from a frosting.
What Kind of Persimmons to Use
Because most of my friends and family have fuyu persimmon trees, that’s what I use for this recipe. Plus, I love fuyu persimmons the most. Technically, this recipe can be adapted for hachiya persimmons. However, because hachiya persimmons need to be very very ripe and squishy in order to be eaten, you won’t really be able to have the clear cubed shape that you see in the photos. It may look a lot less pretty, even for a rustic dessert. That said, it would still taste delicious.
Suggestions for Serving
This cake is baked in an 8×4 inch loaf pan. However, don’t expect it to have the tall loaf shape like a pound cake or banana bread. It’s meant to be more flat and cut into squares, similar to brownies. This gives it a nice flat surface for the cubed persimmons to rest on. I tried increasing the cake batter to create a loaf shape, but the fruit fell off the top at the end and didn’t have the right balance of persimmon to cake.
If you would like to make a bigger portion, my recommendation is to double the recipe and bake it in an 8×8 inch square pan, similar to brownies.
More Fall Asian Recipes
Looking for more fall recipes with Asian flavors? Check these out:
- Pumpkin Butter Mochi
- Mochi Cornbread
- Kaki Daifuku (Persimmon Stuffed Mochi)
- Sweet Potato Butter Mochi
- Japanese Sweet Potato Creme Brulee
Easy Persimmon Cake for Fall
Ingredients
- 2 fuyu persimmons
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, 90g
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, 113g
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour, 125g
Equipment
- 1 8×4 in. loaf pan
Instructions
- Peel and cut persimmons into 1cm cubes. Transfer to a bowl.
- Sprinkle persimmons with 2 tbsp of the brown sugar and 1/4 tsp salt. Let sit for 20 mins. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and line an 8×4 in. loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream room temperature butter with the rest of the sugar, spices, rest of the salt, and baking powder.
- Add eggs and beat until well mixed.
- Take half of the cubed persimmon (leave the juice in the bowl) and add to the batter. (If you don’t like large chunks, you can pulse it a few times in a blender or food processor to make into smaller pieces).
- Add flour and vanilla and gently mix.
- Transfer to your loaf pan and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- After cake is done, remove from pan. While still hot, spread remaining persimmon with the liquid on top.
Notes
- This recipe makes about 8 small squares, like brownie-sized servings. For a larger portion to share, I recommend doubling the recipe and baking in an 8×8 in. square baking tin.
- This recipe would also taste really great with some chopped walnuts mixed in!
