I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow I ended up with several bags of prunes. Have you ever offered a prune to a teenager? I mean come on, these aren’t Craisins. Prunes have a bad rap, which is why I prefer to call them dried plums.
That is what they are after all. Dried plums. Of course, we don’t call raisins dried grapes, but raisins haven’t had the misfortune, like prunes, of being labeled for the geriatric crowd, if you know what I mean. It probably didn’t help that every time their grandpa visited he made sure to request a bottle of prune juice for his visit.
I digress. So I have all these dried plums, or prunes, whatever tickles your fancy, and needed to make something they could “hide” in, you know, so no one was the wiser.
I found it… But I changed it. See Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman, has a recipe called Grandma Iny’s Prune Cake. I made it, and it’s quite good. See it above?
Everyone ate it… ALL of it, even though they did say they wish there was less spice.
That got me thinking. Chocolate. It needed chocolate. But I really liked the caramel glaze on top, so I gave that some chocolate too. While the prune cake was quite good in its own right, we all preferred the chocolate version I made. So whenever I need to use up some prunes, this is the cake I will be making!
Chocolate Prune Cake
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItIngredients
- 1 cup dried plums prunes
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ¼ cup cocoa
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup buttermilk
Chocolate Caramel Icing
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
- ½ cup buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Before You Begin
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease or spray a 13x9 baking pan.
- Place prunes in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the boiling water and place prunes, vanilla and reserved water into a mini food processor. Puree and then set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and canola oil, beating well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, and cinnamon.
- To the large bowl with the egg/oil mixture add all ingredients (flour mixture, buttermilk, and prune puree) and stir until well combined.
- Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Five minutes before cake has finished baking, make the icing. Combine all icing ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Once icing begins to boil, give it a quick few stirs to combine everything then let it boil, undisturbed for 6-7 minutes.
- Remove cake from oven to a cooling rack. Remove icing pan from heat and give it one or two stir then pour over the top of the cake. Let cake cool for 10 minutes and serve warm.
Amanda Davis
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Bob Bridges says
Baking soda is listed as one of the ingredients, but it’s it’s not mentioned in any of the steps of the recipe.
Amanda Formaro says
Apologies, you add it with the dry ingredients.
Rosemary says
Hi Amanda,
I don’t have prunes, but a lot of leftover prune juice. Could I omit them and use a cup of prune juice instead? Or maybe I could use raisins or dried cranberries instead? Or a combo of both. Just cut back on the juice. What do you think?
Thank you.
Rosemary
Amanda Formaro says
Straight liquid make be too much, but replacing with cranberries or raisins might work!
Emily says
I made this recipe this morning. It baked PERFECTLY!! I substituted a bit and made it gluten free as well as reduced the sugar to 3/4C and instead of butter milk, used 4 tsp sour cream and 1 cup prune juice.
For the glaze I used unsweetened bakers chocolate and coconut milk with sour cream for the butter milk. I made a two tier cake. Its Gorgeous and I cant wait to serve it.
Thank you for the recipe. Its rre to find one perfect the first time:-).
Amanda Formaro says
That’s wonderful, hope it was delicious!
Aunt Mary says
Hi Amanda I just love your blog
Amanda says
Thank you Mary!
Sue says
I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about eating this chocolate cake since it has health benefits, right? :)
Calogero Mira says
I think so. Prunes are very healthy.