Aunt Iny's Prune Cake

Are you ready for another PW recipe? I picked the recipe this week and decided to make Aunt Iny's Prune Cake. Yet another recipe I was intrigued about. What would a cake with prunes in it, taste like? And what would Jason and Kristen think about it! You can find the full recipe at Ree's cooking blog HERE

So let's begin, first of all you boil the prunes to soften them then drain and 'mush' them with a folk....

You must be sneaky about this, if hubby or kids walk in be sure to hide what you're doing!

Set the prunes aside and make the cake... this was a nice simple recipe - mix dry ingredients together, then mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine the two together . . .

I was happy to read in the recipe that the batter should be lumpy at this stage - which mine definitely was . . .

next, add in the mashed prunes

and pour in to a 13x9 baking pan

Five minutes before the cake is cooked start making the caramel sauce. This is also easy . . .

just put your ingredients in to a pan and bring to a slow boil. You let it boil for about 5-7 minutes until it turns a nice caramel color (the recipes says you don't need to stir this, but I found you have to watch it or it could boil over. I had to keep lifting my pan off the heat so it wouldn't boil over the top) I actually did stir it a couple of times to kinda knock the 'froth' down!

it eventually will start to change color and not be so frothy.

here's the cake fresh out of the oven (I took the cake out while the caramel was still boiling so it rested for a just a couple of minutes before I was ready to pour, which seemed just right)

Let the pouring begin! I did stir the caramel a little before pouring just to try and get some of the bubbles out. And I did lick that spoon as Ree suggested :-) The caramel was delish, I couldn't wait to try the cake . . . .

and here it is - looking all yummilicious! What did it taste like?

Verdict: Kristen and Jason were out when this was ready so I tried the first piece on my own. I was expecting something very sweet because of the caramel I think, so I was a tad disappointed about the cake in that first bite! It was nice, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't sweet. Seemed liked I'd only put half the sugar in or something, but I knew I hadn't. Perhaps it's meant to be like that because the caramel is very sweet? Who knows! What I do know is that with each bite I took it seemed to get better :-) Yes there were bits of prunes in it still which I actually liked, it was like getting a bite of sweet gooey fruit when you got a piece in your mouth. The flavor of the cake is very similar to carrot cake because of the nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice, and it was very soft and light.

Overall I really liked it, but would I make it again - probably not. Jason liked it too and I served Kristen a small piece to have after she'd finished her lunch. I turned around and she'd already left the table having only taken a bite of the cake and left most of it. Later I asked her if she liked my cake and she said "no!" when I asked her why she said "it had something weird in it" - kids! sometimes there's just no fooling them ;-)