Deliciously chewy and flavoursome cake. Perfect enjoyed as breakfast or with an afternoon tea.

Prunes are one of my favourite dried fruit. They are rich-flavoured, succulent and last but not least posses a number of health benefits. Prunes are a good source of phenols, soluble and insoluble fibre, vitamins (vitamin K and B6) and minerals (potassium, copper, manganese and boron).

The first time I tried a prune cake was at the Food Matters Live event in London. It was made by representatives of California Prunes, and I just fell in love with the taste, texture and the whole idea of making a prune cake!

I’ve applied a few minor modifications to the original recipe and have made the cake using gluten-free fibre enriched flour mix, though if you are not gluten intolerant, feel free to use ordinary wheat flour.

Another great thing about this cake is that it has no added sugar (unless you add marmalade, which is optional). The only source of sweetness are the prunes and milk which contain naturally occurring sugars.

Here comes the recipe. I hope that you’ll enjoy the end result as much as I did!

Ingredients:

• 500g of pitted prunes
• 200g of butter
• 550ml of evaporated milk
• 250g of (gluten-free) flour
• 1 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tablespoon of orange marmalade (optional)

Directions:

Place the prunes in a large pan. Add the evaporated milk and butter and bring everything to the boil. Stir frequently to prevent it from sticking. When boiling turn down the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Let the prune mixture cool for approximately 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 170°C/ 325°F/ Gas Mark 3. Mix the flour with the bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl. Then add the prune mixture (optional – and the marmalade) and combine. Line the base and sides of a cake tin (dimentions: about 8 Inch/20 cm) with parchment baking paper. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and cover with double square of parchment baking paper, with a hole (about the size of 10 pence) in the centre.

Bake for 1.45- 2 hours. When baked remove from oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Transfer to rack.

 

 ~Enjoy!~