Steamed Chocolate Prune Cake

I know. The words "steamed" and "prunes" are not very inspiring and conjures the image of a hospital kitchen preparing food for the geriatric ward. Throwing in the word "chocolate" does not help, does it?

This is actually Chef Wan's Walnut Prune Cake minus the whipping cream. In its place I substituted with good old butter. All 250g of it, no apologies. I also left out walnuts just because I did not have any. And just out of curiosity, I steamed this cake instead of baking it. I confess that I have taken a liking for steamed cakes after trying this Fudgey Steamed Chocolate Cake.

The cake turned out alright except that I thought the surface was a bit dry. The funny thing is that the chocolate batter was on top of the yellow batter but they seemed to have swapped places. Strange, eh?

I was a bit worried how the texture would turn out but I had to wait until all the pictures were taken. I had some leftover ganache in the freezer (yes, they freeze beautifully) and left it to stand to room temperature while the cake was steaming away. Once the cake was completely cooled, I warmed the ganache in the microwave by zapping it at 30 second intervals until it was of pouring consistency.

I simply drizzled the ganache over the cake using a spoon. It was quite therapeutic, this. Drizzling chocolate over a cake is so soothing. And did I mention that the best part is licking the spoon and then using your finger to scrape whatever is left in the container? It really makes washing easier you know :)

Once I was done with the pics, I immediately grabbed a knife and sliced a piece. I can tell if a cake is moist and tender by feeling the resistance as I slice the cake. The knife glided easily and smoothly and I immediately felt a sense of relief. 

And now, for a taste. Wow. It was so good. I mean WOW! It was so,so good!! Very moist. Very chocolaty. Very orangey. Not too sweet. And best of all were the prunes. They were not yucky at all. They were soft and moist and reminded me of biting into cherries in a Black Forest Cake. Mission accomplished! 

Steamed Chocolate Prune Cake

Recipe source : Adapted from Chef Wan Cakes page 26

Ingredients :

- 170g pitted prunes

- Juice of 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon rum (optional)

- 4 eggs

- 160g castor sugar

- zest of 1 orange

- 250g butter
- 125g sour cream

- 250g self-raising flour

- 3 tbsp apricot jam

- 1/4 cup cocoa powder

- Ganache to decorate

Method :

1. Steep prunes in orange juice and rum for 3 hours or overnight.

2. Grease an 8" round pan and line the botton with baking paper.

3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add orange zest and eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add flour and sour cream alternately in 3 additions and fold using a spatula.

6. Divide batter into 2 portions, one with one-third and the other with two-thirds of batter.

7. Pour the larger portion of batter into prepared cake tin.

8. In a separate bowl, mix together jam, marinated prunes and cocoa powder. Then fold in the remaining one-third of batter. 

9. Pour into cake tin over the first layer.

10. Create a marbled effect in cake using the tip of a knife to swirl batter.

11. Cover the top of the cake tin with aluminium foil and steam over medium heat for 1 hour or until skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

12. Cool the cake in the tin and then remove.

13. Drizzle ganache over the cake to decorate.