Cake; Prunes in chocolate

Cake “Prunes in chocolate”

Now I’m making a “Prunes in Chocolate” cake. I really love the combination of prunes and chocolate, and I’m not alone in my love - almost all confectioners adore this combination. There are “Prunes in Chocolate” candies, and there are a huge number of options for cakes based on prunes and chocolate. And, by the way, I also have a lot of recipes for such cakes. This cake contains chocolate sponge cake, butter cream with the addition of prunes, walnuts and grated chocolate. The top of the cake is covered with chocolate glaze and decorated with prunes. It's really quite tasty. I really love this cake. Let's cook!

For the recipe you will need:

For a sponge cake for a 24 cm pan:
180 g flour
180 g sugar
4 medium eggs
25 g cocoa powder
5 g baking powder
70 ml water
pinch of salt

For the cream:
300 ml cream 35% (can be replaced with sour cream)
160 g condensed milk
200 g prunes
50 g walnuts
20 g chocolate
7 g gelatin
50 ml water

For impregnation:
3 tbsp.
spoons of water 2 tbsp.
spoons of sugar 1 tbsp. spoon of cognac (optional)

For glaze:
100 g chocolate
60 g butter

For decoration:
50 g prunes
50 g walnuts

Cake weight – 1.6 kg

PREPARATION:

We separate chicken eggs into whites and yolks.

Mix flour with cocoa powder and baking powder. Mix very thoroughly so that the dry ingredients are moderately distributed by volume. And then we sift through.

Add a pinch of salt to the whites and first beat without sugar until soft peaks form, then add about a tablespoon of sugar (we take sugar from the general norm) and beat until stiff peaks form.

Bring the water to a boil. Lightly beat the egg yolks and then, without stopping beating, pour in hot water evenly, and then add sugar evenly.

Beat until light and fluffy. The yolks should lighten and increase in volume. The mark left on the surface should not flow off immediately; it should remain visible for several seconds.

Mix the whipped whites into the beaten yolks and then very carefully stir in the mixture of flour and cocoa. Mix in 3-4 steps using folding movements, using a spatula to move from bottom to top, from the edges to the center. We try to mix in the flour as quickly as possible, with the least amount of movement, but at the same time make sure that the dough is homogeneous, without over-kneading, so that there are no dry flour lumps left in the dough. This is how thick the dough comes out in the end.

I baked the sponge cake in a springform cake pan with a diameter of 24 cm, lined the bottom of the pan with baking paper, and did not grease the sides with anything. You can scroll the mold a couple of times to make the biscuit smoother. Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C, bake the biscuit for approximately 30-35 minutes. We determine the readiness of the biscuit either by lightly pressing on the middle - your finger should not fall through, or using a wooden stick - it should come out clean from the center of the biscuit, without traces of dough. Place the freshly baked biscuit directly in the mold on a wire rack and let cool.

Once the biscuit has cooled, it can be cut out of the mold. Using a narrow knife, we go along the walls of the mold and carefully remove it. Return the biscuit to the wire rack and leave to stand for several hours. It is better to cut the biscuit no earlier than 3-4 hours after baking.

I cut the sponge cake into 3 shortcakes, but if you wish, you can simply cut it in half.

We put the sponge cake aside for now.

I soaked the shortcakes with sweet syrup. Pour sugar into water and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let it cool to room temperature, pour in cognac, stir, and our impregnation is ready.

Preparing the cream. Pour gelatin into water, stir and leave to swell for some time. Finely chop the prunes.

Alternatively, prunes can be minced in a meat grinder. Prunes should be soft, at the moment they are usually sold as such, but if your prunes are dry, then they must be soaked in water beforehand. And, naturally, prunes should be pitted.

I slightly dried the nuts earlier, did not roast them, but rather dried them a little. Alternatively, you can grind the nuts in a meat grinder. I chopped the nuts that will go into the cream very finely, and a little coarser for sprinkling.

Gently heat the swollen gelatin so that it dissolves completely. Pour condensed milk into the gelatin solution and stir.

The condensed milk must not be straight from the refrigerator, it must be at room temperature, so it must be taken out in advance and allowed to warm up. If you pour gelatin into cool condensed milk, it may cling to strings.

Take the cream out of the refrigerator and whip it until stable. Do not beat the cream, it should hold its shape perfectly, but at the same time remain soft. Gently stir condensed milk and gelatin into the whipped cream.

I mixed it with a mixer, but very quickly, briefly, at low mixer speeds.

Gently stir in the prunes, chopped nuts and chocolate with a spatula. And our cream is ready. This is what it comes out of the mixture like. It is quite soft, but at the same time not watery.

I assembled the cake using a pastry ring just to make the cake smoother. If you don’t have a pastry ring, then it’s completely possible to do without it.

Soak the shortbread thoroughly, spread half the cream, level it, and place the second shortbread on top.

We also saturate it, spread the second half of the cream, and level it.

Soak the remaining 3rd cake layer and place it on top.

Place the cake in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. During this period of time, the cream will stabilize, become denser, and the cake will hold its shape perfectly.

We run a knife along the walls of the mold and carefully remove it.

For the glaze, carefully heat the chocolate and butter using whatever method is comfortable for you. It's best to heat it in a water bath, but I usually heat it in the microwave. But I heat it up very carefully, turn on the microwave oven with pulses, i.e. I practically turned it on and off so as not to overheat the chocolate. Heat until smooth.

Pour the chocolate glaze onto the cake and smooth it out.

Sprinkle the sides of the cake with chopped nuts.

Decorate the top of the cake with prune halves.

We put the cake in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes so that the icing completely hardens, and our “Prunes in Chocolate” cake is ready.

Chocolate cake with prunes and nuts

Chocolate shortcakes combined with airy sour cream, an interior made of prunes and walnuts, covered with dark chocolate glaze. Everyone will like the cake, because... it plays on the popular, win-win, and almost everyone-loved combination of prunes and chocolate.

Ingredients for a cake with a diameter of 16-18 cm

Biscuit

Flour – 190 g;
Soda – 1 tsp;
Salt – 3/4 tsp;
Cocoa – 40 g;
Sugar – 220 g;
Medium testicle – 2 pcs;
Butter – 90 g;
Milk – 210 ml;
Wine vinegar - 3/4 tbsp.

Sour cream 22% – 350 g;
Sweet powder – 85 g;
Butter – 40 g;
Cream thickener – 1 sachet.

Interior

Prunes – 40 pcs (200 g) + for decoration 30 g (8 pcs);
Walnuts – 100 g + 10 g for decoration.

Glaze

Butter – 50 g;
Sugar – 2 tbsp;
Heavy cream or sour cream – 5 tbsp;
Cocoa without sugar - 4 tbsp.

How to make a cake

Chocolate shortcakes

1. Combine flour, soda, salt, sugar and cocoa. Mix.

2. Add the egg, soft butter, milk and wine vinegar. Mix with a mixer until smooth.

3. Grease the mold with butter and sprinkle with flour. Pour in the dough. Bake at 180 C for 25-30 minutes.

4. Cool the finished cake first in the pan (10 minutes), then on a wire rack until completely cooled. Wrap in film and put in the refrigerator overnight (that is, in the dark) .

5. In the morning, cut the whole shortbread into 3 even shortbreads.

1. Beat chilled sour cream until light foam with half the sweet powder and cream thickener.

2. Beat soft butter at room temperature with the other half of the sweet powder.

3. Combine both masses.

Interior

Fry the nuts in a frying pan and crush them with a rolling pin. Scald the prunes with boiling water, let stand for 5 minutes. Drain the water. Grind the prunes in a blender to small pieces.

Glaze

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook until combined and smooth.

Assembling the cake

1. Place the shortbread on a plate and spread a quarter of the sour cream over it. Place half the prunes on top and sprinkle with half the nuts.

2. Grease the second cake on one side with another quarter of sour cream and place the greased side on the first cake. Top this second cake with the third quarter of sour cream, lay out the remaining prunes and nuts.

3. Grease the third cake with the last quarter of sour cream and place the greased side on the cake.

4. Collect excess sour cream from the sides of the cake and coat the sides with it. Place the cake in the refrigerator for half an hour.

5. After half an hour, cover the cake with glaze and decorate the top with nut crumbs and prunes.

6. Place in the refrigerator to steep for several hours, preferably overnight (that is, in the dark) .

Chocolate cake with prunes and walnuts

An impeccable option for decorating a festive table with a unique taste and an unusual combination of sponge cake and prunes is a chocolate cake with prunes, prepared at home. An indescribably tender and airy delicacy will become a real decoration for your festive table!

The glaze is prepared from a consistency of 60 g of butter and a chocolate bar (100 g). The weight of the finished cake is 1.6 kg

To make a sponge cake in a mold with a diameter of 24 cm, take:
Flour 180 g.
Sugar 180 g.
Chicken eggs 4 pcs
Cocoa powder 25 g.
Baking soda or baking powder 5 g.
Water 70 ml.
Salt ½ tsp.
For cream:
Full-fat sour cream (or cream 35% fat) 300 ml.
Condensed milk 160 g.
Prunes 200 g.
Chocolate 30 g.
Walnuts 50 g.
Gelatin 7 g.
Water 50 ml.
To soak the cake:
Water 3 tbsp. l.
Sugar 2 tbsp. l.
Cognac (optional) 1 tbsp. l.

Advice! After baking is finished, the mold is left to cool, then removed, and the finished biscuit is placed on the oven grid to rest. You can cut the cake blank 3-4 hours after it is baked.

There can be 2 or 3 chocolate cakes according to your desire; for this, the biscuits are cut lengthwise with a sharp knife.

Cream
Impregnation
Glaze
Assembling the cake

To make the cream, gelatin is poured into water, stirred and left to swell.
The prunes are washed, dried and chopped finely; you can grind them in a meat grinder. If you come across hard and dry prunes, you cannot do without preparatory soaking.
Peeled walnuts are chopped into small pieces and dried in a frying pan, without toasting. The nuts for the layer are cut finely, and for sprinkling they are left the largest.
The mixture with gelatin is heated until it dissolves completely. After this, condensed milk is poured into the resulting mass in a narrow stream and mixed until smooth.

Fundamentally! Condensed milk does not have to be cool, so it is taken out of the refrigerator in advance. When pouring cool dairy product into the gelatin mixture, the cream may form threads.

Cream or sour cream is combined until it retains its shape, and then mixed with the gelatin mixture at low speed of the mixer.
The preparation is completed by mixing prunes, chopped nuts and chocolate.

Impregnation

The finished shortcakes are carefully moistened with the prepared syrup; for this, the sugar is heated until completely dissolved, left to cool and cognac is added.

Glaze

To make the glaze, combine butter and chocolate using a water bath or microwave for heating. It is important not to overheat the ingredients so that they do not melt completely, but at the same time simply mix into a homogeneous state.

Assembling the cake

The finished cake is formed on a plate with or without a pastry ring.
Spread some of the cream onto the shortbreads, well soaked in sweet syrup, level them, and cover with the next shortbread. After impregnation, it is also moderately covered with a layer of cream. The same is repeated with the third shortbread.
The sides of the cake and its surface are also smeared with sour cream, covered with glaze, and sprinkled with pieces of prunes and chopped walnuts as decoration.

Place the finished chocolate cake with prunes, sour cream and nuts in the refrigerator for at least half an hour, during which time the biscuit will be perfectly soaked, and the layer will begin to hold its shape perfectly.

If you are a fan of dried fruits and desserts with them, try making this cake. The process does not require much time, but the result will outshine all expectations and will be able to capture the love of the household.

Velvet chocolate cake with prunes

I told the story of Vita and her desserts in the introduction to the “Three Milk Pie” recipe. I have been eyeing this cake since 2006, ever since I first saw it. But either there was no time, or there were no ingredients, or something else... and it just lay “on my shelf” waiting in the wings. And the time has come! A beautiful dessert, quite easy to prepare and tastes enchantingly richly chocolate. Help yourself!

Ingredients:

Chocolate sponge cake:
80 g flour
30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
130 g sugar
3/4 tsp.
soda 1/2 tsp.
baking powder 1/4 tsp.
salt 1 huge egg at room temperature
1 tsp.
milk 3 tbsp.
vegetable oil 1/2 tsp.
vanilla extract 220 g water

Prunes:
3 Earl Gray tea bags
250 ml tea water
25 prunes

Mousse:
280 g bitter chocolate
350 g cream 33%-35%

Preparation:

Brew tea from tea bags and soak prunes in it overnight (that is, in the dark) . In the morning, place in a colander and let the water drain completely. You can blot dried fruits with a cardboard towel. Then leave 10-12 larger berries for decoration, and finely chop the rest.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare a mold 20 cm in diameter, lightly grease it with butter and sprinkle with flour.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Place everything in a mixer bowl, add the egg, milk, vegetable oil, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and 220 g of water. Stir everything with the whisk attachment at low speed until combined. , stir the dough at low speed. The dough will be quite watery.

Place the dough in the prepared pan and place in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes; check for doneness with a wooden skewer. Let the finished base sit for a while in the mold, then transfer it to a kitchen rack and leave until it cools completely.

Melt the chocolate in a water bath or in the microwave. Heat 250 g of cream, but do not bring to a boil. If you wish, you can add vanilla seeds, vanilla extract, fler d'orange or even spices. Pour the hot cream into the chocolate in a thin stream, stir well until combined. Cool the mixture to 28C. Whip the remaining 100 g of cream to soft peaks and combine with the ganache. Add chopped prunes.

Trim the chocolate sponge cake a little around the edges. If it “swells” during baking, trim the top the same way. Set the mold, line the sides with acetate film, so that later your cakes will be easier to remove from the mold without damaging the side walls.