Vegan Chocolate-Prune Cake

Sometimes I get creative when I describe vegan baking and I start using “egg-free” and “dairy-free” phrases. I find that a lot of people react badly when they hear “vegan” and “cake” in the same sentence, however “egg-free” and “dairy-free” encourages people to try. But no matter what I call it, the reality is that it is vegan. And it’s good. And it’s tasty and delicious and chocolatey. 

About a year ago I’ve discovered a wonderful vegan chocolate cake and since then I couldn’t help but try and come up with other vegan desserts. I am not vegan, but if I can reduce just a little bit of fat without comprising the taste, then why not?

I came up with this recipe while leafing through a cookbook where I noticed a Spiced-Prune Cake. I thought that prunes could add moisture and sweetness to a cake, so I could reduce the amount of sugar and oil. I didn’t really want any pronounced prune flavour (although I do really love prunes), so I finely chopped them to distribute in the batter. I added a little bit of my favourite Orange Oil which is a secret ingredient in a lot of my baking. It gives this je ne sais quoin to the glaze and leaves you asking for another bite. It’s not necessary, but I highly urge you to buy a bottle.

So, this was my morning. Measuring, writing, baking, photographing and eating this delicious and still warm slice of cake with a cup of perfect Americano and now I am patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for dinner when it’ll be appropriate to have another slice.

Chocolate-Prune Cake

Prunes, pitted – 1 cup
Water, boiling – 1/2 cup
Chocolate chips, semi-sweet – 1/2 cup
Flour – 1 1/2 cups
Sugar – 2/3 cup *
Cocoa powder – 1 tablespoon
Baking soda – 3/4 teaspoon
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
Vegetable oil – 2/3 cup
White vinegar – 1 tablespoon

For the glaze

Chocolate chips, semi-sweet – 1/3 cup
Icing sugar – 1/2 cup *
Water – 2 tablespoons
Orange oil – 1/2 teaspoon

– Preheat oven to 375F.
– Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper and spray it with oil.
– In a food processor or by hand finely chop prunes, pour boiling water over them, mix and let stand to cool slightly.
– Melt chocolate chips either in microwave or on a water bath. Let cool slightly.
– In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
– Add oil, melted chocolate, cooled prune and water mixture, vanilla and mix until flour disappears.
– Add vinegar and mix it in. Do not over mix! Batter will be pretty thick.
– Spread the batter into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 min. Edges will be cooked through but centre will still be a bit soft.
– Take the cake out and let cool. Meanwhile make the glaze.
– Melt chocolate in the microwave or on a water bath.
– In a separate bowl mix together icing sugar and water.
– Add melted chocolate into icing sugar mixture and mix until smooth.
– Add the orange oil and mix.
– Pour the glaze over cooled cake and spread.

Comments:
* Prunes and chocolate are pretty sweet, so you could reduce the amount of sugar in both cake and glaze by a little bit.
– I have reduced the amount of oil in this cake and it is a little bit crumbly. For a less crumbly cake, you may want to add full cup of oil instead of 2/3 cup. Since I was making the cake just for myself and my husband, it didn’t matter if it held perfect slice, so I chose to add less oil. Flavour was still there and it was moist (because of the prunes), rich and chocolatey.