Chocolate Prunes Cake

As if my new recipe binder didn't contain enough yummy things starting with a C, I made a Chocolate Prunes Cake today. See, it's my husband's fault. I really shouldn't let him work from home while I go to the office. He answers the door to anybody and anyone! So he got lucky for once, and the neighbor from across the street brought some prunes they grew in their garden. Everybody (not me, I am just the occasional recipient) who grows anything knows how it is… everything is ready at the same time, your freezer is full, and you just can't see, let alone eat, any more zucchini, cherries, or in their case, prunes. 

Here I was on my afternoon off, sitting next to a bag of prunes, googling recipes. Some ask for dried prunes that you soak in rum. Sounds yummy, but I have fresh prunes. There's some that require making shortbread dough. I like to eat it, but not to make it. Then there was one using jars of baby fruit sauce. Genius! I would make my own fruit sauce and add chocolate. Everything is better with chocolate. In return I reduced the amount of sugar. And switched vegetable oil for butter. So I guess I can call it my recipe now ;-) 

I've got to warn you, though. It was ridiculously labor-intensive!

Let's get started with the ingredients:

0.5 cup    white sugar (100g)
0.5 cup    brown sugar (100g)
3              eggs
0.75 cup  dark chocolate, chopped into chunks (130g)
0.75 cup  butter, melted (180g)
0.5 cup    prune sauce (125g)
0.25 cup  apple sauce (60g)
2 cups     all-purpose flour (240g)
2 tsp        baking powder
1 tsp        ground cinnamon
pinch       ground cloves
pinch       ground vanilla 
pinch       salt


Instructions:

Wash and pit prunes, peel, core and chop apples. 

I started with over 30 prunes and 3 small apples and ended up with some yummy leftover fruit sauce. The prunes lost lots of water during the steaming process. That's right. Cut them into pieces and cook or steam them like you would do for regular apple sauce. 

There are actually videos out there on how to make apple sauce from scratch (hold the cinnamon as we will add it to the cake batter later.)

I put it in the steamer oven for half an hour and then strained everything (2 parts prunes and 1 part apples) which caused kind of a mess, but I wanted to get rid of the prunes' skin pieces. Weigh 0.75 cups or 185g fruit puree and set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 350°F (180°C)

In a medium bowl (or your kitchen machine) beat eggs until fluffy, add sugar

In a small pot on low heat melt the butter and the chocolate. 

Add to the egg / sugar mix, combine.

What's in the Coke bottle? I saved the prunes juice. Maybe it can be added to a glass of sparkling wine? I bet that's yummy?

Add prunes / apple sauce to the batter, mix well.

Gradually add flour, baking powder and spices, until combined.

Pour into one large or two smallish prepped loaf pans.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, test with a toothpick.

Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto  a wire rack to let cool completely.

Was it worth it? Well, it does taste delicious! Kind of like a gingerbread with a twist. If you don't know you'll never find out that it's made from prunes sauce, though. 

I had three slices. Don't tell anyone. 

Would I do it again? Maybe! 

If I had a little helper, and I would probably find out how to assemble my kitchen machine to use it as a food processor. And I would make two or three batches and keep one in the freezer for Thanksgiving as an alternative (or addition) to pumpkin pie.