Plum cake refers to a wide range of cakes made with either dried fruit (such as grapes, currants, raisins or prunes) or with fresh fruit. 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. The dark color of the plum cake is not from cocoa powder but from the rich dark caramel which is one of the key ingredients. The color of the cake depends on the color of the caramel.