I remember the first time my mom said she was going to make us a prune cake. First thought: yuck. Of all the prune recipes in the world, cake?! Cake?! Prune cake?? But my mama made it, so I had to try it. And much like everything else, you should just listen to your mama. Moms are always right, are they not? Well, I’m not your mom but I am a mom and I am here to tell you…prune cake is the best. My husband, who doesn’t even like cake, requests a prune cake for his birthday every year now.
Since my mom passed away two years ago, my grandmother and aunt have made it for us a few times. It’s actually my grandmother’s family recipe (on my dad’s side) that my mom frequently made. I had never made it though, until a few days ago. It was my husband’s birthday and I finally attempted to make prune cake myself. I have all of my mom’s recipes, but honestly I don’t attempt to make many of them. The ones I have tried to make never turn out as good as they did when she made them, and then I just feel sad about it. But, I’m determined to try more of her recipes this year and perfect them the way she did.
I was pleasantly surprised at how the prune cake turned out. It wasn’t too far off from what my mom’s was like, and actually the process of making the cake made me recall into memory something she had told me about how she modified it: double the glaze.
You’ll notice the thick glaze on top of my cake in the pictures, but it also means twice the glaze on the inside because you’ll poke holes in the cake before you pour the glaze over.
Tips for the best prune cake:
- I suggest prepping your ingredients for the glaze, but not making it until the cake is done. You want the both the cake and the glaze to be hot when you pour it on. I decided to make my glaze when there was 5 minutes left on my timer for the cake, but then discovered the center of my cake wasn’t fully cooked yet, so then my glaze had to sit a few minutes. Since the glaze only take a couple of minutes to make, next time I will just have everything ready but not actually make it until I pull the cake out of the oven.
- Before you pour the glaze over the cake, poke hole into it. I used a fork, but in hindsight I realized what made my mom’s version better was that she got the holes all the way through the cake. My cake was moister on the top half than the bottom because my holes didn’t go as deep. Next time I’ll use skewer or something longer to poke holes all the way through.
Prune Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1.5 cups Sugar
- 1 cup Vegetable Oil
- 3 Eggs
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 2 cups Flour
- 1.5 cups Prunes
Glaze
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 tbsp Karo Syrup
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Instructions
Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 350.
- Put prunes into a pot and just cover with water. Bring water to a boil and cook just a few minutes, until tender.
- Remove prunes with slotted spoon onto a cutting board. Chop the prunes into small pieces then set to the side.
- Combine sugar and oil. Beat until creamy.
- Add the eggs, mix until creamy.
- Add the rest of the ingredients except the prunes. Beat well.
- Add the prunes last and mix well.
- Pour into 13x9 greased pan.
- Cook for about 30 minutes or until cake is done in the center.
GLAZE
- You'll want to do this as soon as the cake comes out so the glaze and cake are both hot when you pour the glaze over. Optional: double this glaze as I do.
- Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil.
- Cook about 2 minutes.
- When cake is done, punch holes all over the cake with a toothpick or fork.
- Pour hot glaze over hot cake.
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Hi, I’m Jessica! I am wife to Chris, and mom to Kaiper, Alana and Koa. I am a graphic designer, website developer and aspiring author. In this space, I share about everything from parenting, working from home, food we cook, and lots of things for kids! Learn more about me here.
