Spiced Prune Traybake

Spiced Prune Traybake

Do you have a forgotten about tin of prunes in your cupboard? Well I did and hence I came up with this recipe for Spiced Prune Traybake which was inspired by this recipe for Peach, Tea & White Chocolate Traybake from Recipes from a Normal Mum! As a kid and beyond tinned prunes and custard were a regular dessert. I vividly remember piling up the discarded stones and reciting “Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief” as many times as need be as I counted the stones. You never wanted to be any of the last three options!

I think I’d initially bought this tin of prunes to make a healthy Brownie but never got around to it so last week I looked in my cupboards for inspiration and my tin of prunes waved furiously at me (I might be using artistic licence here)! I had in mind to make a cake as I hadn’t made one in too long and baking is so very rewarding and good for the soul!

Prunes are great bed fellows with spices so I looked for some cinnamon and discovered that I’d run out. Not wanting to run around the neighbourhood to borrow some, I found that I had some cinnamon sticks and remembered that I own a nifty spice grinder. I popped a couple of broken cinnamon stick in the grinder and moments later I had beautifully pungent ground cinnamon! I also decided to add allspice, nutmeg and some vanilla extract to the mix and top with a sweet icing drizzle to contrast with the spices. This is very much a cake aimed at grown-ups but despite my daughter’s misgivings about my cake she said it was indeed delicious. It also went down well on Mother’s Day with my mum and the rest of the family giving it a big thumbs up too!

For more prune recipe inspiration you might like:

Prune Brownie Thins

Prune and Walnut Muffins

Prune and Chocolate Shortbread

California Prune Energy Bars

Spiced Prune Chocolate Pots with Amaretto

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Spiced Prune Traybake

Spiced Prune Traybake uses tinned prunes for a moist and delicious cake which is mildly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice plus a dash of vanilla and topped with an icing drizzle.

Course Cake

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 12

Author Camilla Hawkins

Ingredients

• 50 mls vegetable oil
• 200 g unsalted butter melted (plus extra for greasing the tin)
• 250 g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 235 g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 tinned prunes stoned and halved,
• 150 g icing sugar
• 5 tsp water

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Add the oil and butter to a small pan and heat gently for about a minute until the butter has melted, then remove from the heat.
3. Meanwhile prepare a 22cm x 22cm tray bake tin by greasing with a little butter and lining with baking parchment.
4. Sieve the self-raising flour into a large bowl and mix in the oil and melted butter mixture, caster sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla extract all together until a smooth batter is formed.
5. Place the prune halves in 3 rows on top of the sponge (you’ll have an odd half left).
6. Place on the middle shelf of oven and bake for 35 minutes or until golden on the top and a skewer comes out of the centre of the tray bake clean.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.
8. Once the cake has cooled, mix together the sieved icing sugar and water and drizzle over the cake.
9. Leave to set and slice into squares to serve.

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