Ingredients
- 80g Sunsweet prunes
- 200g soft butter
- 160g brown sugar
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 packet of Bourbon vanilla sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- A pinch of ground nutmeg
- A pinch of salt
- 4 eggs (medium)
- 200g flour
- 1 1/2 level tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cocoa
- 75g ground hazelnuts
- 150g icing sugar
- Fat and flour for the tin
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven (electric oven: 175°C/fan: 150°C).
- Grease and flour a loaf tin (30cm long) and chill. Chop the prunes.
- Beat the butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, the cloves, nutmeg and salt while stirring. Gradually stir in the eggs.
- Mix the flour with the baking powder and the cocoa and briefly stir one half into the mixture fol-lowed by the other half. Then fold in the ground hazelnuts and prunes. Spoon the cake mixture into the loaf tin and spread smooth.
- Bake for approximately 50 minutes. Leave the cake in the tin on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of the tin and leave it to cool.
- Mix the icing sugar and remaining cinnamon with 2 tablespoons of water to a thick icing. Spread this over the cake.
Tip:
Instead of using individual spices, you can simply add 2 tsp of a Christmas spice mix or gingerbread spice. Instead of icing, you could coat the cake with melted chocolate: melt 200g dark or milk couverture in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and then spread over the cake.
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