Everyone purports to have, in their possession, the recipe for the perfect chocolate cake. This is, of course, nonsense. There is always something better, if only because variety is something we crave. Having said all that, I’ll now dismount my high horse to admit that my recipe for Chocolate Prune Cake is among the most enjoyable and moist chocolate cakes you’re likely to find.
The key, inevitably, is the addition of loose leaf black tea-infused prunes. As with chocolate courgette cake, adding a wet ingredient to the cake batter yields a truly satisfying texture. Claggy isn’t usually a complimentary term. But here it is. The dense, moist sponge will have you coming back for seconds… Maybe even thirds.
With a mere 2 tablespoons of sugar to offset a full 300g of dark chocolate, this isn’t a sweet cake. And nor should it be. What sweetness there is comes mainly from the addition of prunes, but it’s a sticky kind of sweetness, with an almost caramel-like quality. This is about as “adult” as a chocolate cake gets.
But you can take it a step further. The use of black tea complements the flavour of the prunes very well. You can, however, replace it with an equivalent quantity of rum (or similar). Of course, the addition of alcohol means needing to buy a bottle, which can be expensive. If you have a bottle on the shelf… Well, it’s there to be used.
Chocolate Prune Cake
Makes one 23cm cake
Ingredients:
- 150g pitted prunes, roughly chopped
- 100ml black tea, freshly brewed
- 300g dark chocolate
- 175g salted butter
- 5 eggs, separated
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 50g plain flour
- 50g ground almonds
- cocoa powder for dusting
Method:
- Put the prunes and black tea in a small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes, until all the liquid has been taken up by the fruit.
- In a saucepan or bain marie, gently melt together the butter and chocolate until smooth. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C(fan). Grease a 23cm springform tin and coat with cocoa powder.
- Beat the egg yolks and egg whites separately, each with a tablespoon of caster sugar. Once beaten, the whites should form stiff peaks and the yolks should have visibly thickened.
- Stir the prunes and yolks through the chocolate mixture until combined. Fold in the plain flour and ground almonds.
- Gently fold in a third of the egg whites, followed by the remainder. Don’t over fold, but ensure there are no white streaks.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
- Sprinkle the chocolate cake with a little cocoa powder before serving warm. But it’s even better served the next day with a spoonful of clotted cream.


Cost: The cost of your chocolate prune cake will likely come down to the quality of chocolate you use and where you buy it from.
Using not the cheapest chocolate, but certainly not the most expensive, this moist chocolate cake can be made for as little as £4. And because it’s so rich and dark in flavour it’ll easily serve 12. That’s just over 30p a slice.
42 replies on “Chocolate Prune Cake”
This Is a very interesting cake and it sure does look deliciously moist. I may be missing something but when do you add the prunes into the batter?
I missed that by accident – thanks for picking up on it. It’s be added!
Looks appetising and healthy too. I will be making this one very soon.
Thank you – relatively healthy yes. I mean, it’s still a cake, but it contains very little sugar.
This looks sooo good! I love the fact that it’s sweetened with prunes – I’ve used dates in cakes before but never thought about prunes. I’ll definitely have to give it a go
The prunes work even better than dates because they’re still very moist inside.
Omg your photos sold me- I was like “prunes” hmm. I dunno about that, but this cake LOOKS so divine- rich and moist 🙂 Yum!
Thank you! It’s definitely worth a go, even if you’re not a fan of prunes.
This does look incredible! Dried prunes lately are being sold as dried plums, but I’ve generally used them in savory dishes. I’m keeping this one in mind, though!
They’re just as good in a cake as in savoury food. Trust me 😉
That looks delightful. And I like the low sugar factor – I’ll definitely be giving it a go! Thanks for sharing
Thank you – there’s simply no need for any more sugar than that.
This looks so good. My ‘boys’ don’t like prunes but if I don’t tell them, I bet they would never know. Have to try it!
They’ll never tell! Please do give it a go 🙂
I always hide fruit and veg in my cakes 🙂
I’m very tempted by this!
Tell me about it; we’ve run out.
Ooo, I do like a good chocolate and prune cake! Never thought of soaking the prunes in tea though. I will have to give it a go!
Please do – the black tea and prunes combine beautifully.
I’m scared! I’m totally up for alternative ingredients but only 2tbsp sugar? Lol…
So many cake recipes use WAY too much sugar. This cake shouldn’t be sweet; there’s no reason to add any more!
Oh I do agree but obviously it’s ingrained in me to use more lol. Obviously you get sweetness from the prunes too… It does look sublime 🙂
Exactly! Thanks, Jo.
Made this last night and it is delicious! Very much for grown ups though – too chocolatey for my 13 year old apparently (All the more for me!!)
Yes, it’s a very “adult” cake. You could sweeten if for children. So glad you liked it.
This cake looks amazing! Must be delicious.
It really was – I already can’t wait to make it again.
[…] Chocolate prune cake. […]
Dude marry me this looks so good
I’m not entirely sure Katherine would approve!
Yeah fair enough, adopt me?
DONE!
Looks very good – do you think I could use prunes in Armagnac for this?? Since they are already hydrated, would I use 250g?
Hmm – I’m really not sure about the quantity of already hydrated prunes. You can definitely use Armagnac though! Delicious. You won’t go far wrong.
Any way the flour could be whole-wheat, or do you think that would affect the overall texture? Looks scrummy!
I’d say the best thing would be a to add a smidge more ground almond and get rid of the flour altogether!
Using the tea reminds me of my mum when she used to make barm brack for halloweed.. what a good idea, this looks really delish!
[…] sheer joy of almonds in baking, hopefully this cake has changed your mind. If not, my recipes for Chocolate Prune Cake and Raspberry, Orange and Almond Traybake might do the […]
Hey !this is the first time I visit your blog and I reallyyy LOVE IT !! I Will definitely try many recipes :)) Will be coming again for more 🙂 cheers .lara
Great – I hope to see more comments 🙂
If you left out the almonds and used all flour with some baking soda, do you think it would more rise
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