Chocolate Prune Cake (updated)

 

I revisited David Lebovitz's chocolate prune cake recipe yesterday and made it with some changes . The last time I made Lebovitz's recipe as he wrote it, we noted the cake was rather crumbly. Also, it was not sweet enough for us, so I upped the sugar to 5 tbs. Also, I decided to add 20g of almond flour to the recipe to see if it improves the texture. It does. So the following is what I did (written down here so that I don't forget). 

For the prunes:

6 ounces (170g) pitted prunes, diced in small pieces

1/3 cup ( 80 ml) rum, or strong black tea (I prefer rum)  

1 tablespoon sugar

For the cake:

12 ounces (340g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

12 tablespoons (6 ounces, 170g) unsalted butter, cubed

6 large eggs, separated

large pinch of salt

5 tablespoons sugar

20g almond flour

Additional butter for the pan

Simmer the prunes with the rum and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan for a few minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand until cool.

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC).

Butter a 9-inch (23cm) pan. Dust the inside with flour or cocoa powder, and tap out any excess. Or just line the pan with parchment paper and skip the buttering and flouring. 

In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the prunes and any liquid left in the pan. Add to this 20g of almond flour. 

Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl, or using a stand mixer, whip the egg whites with the salt until they begin to hold soft peaks. Continue whipping, adding the 5 tablespoons of sugar one tablespoon at a time until the whites hold their shape when you lift the whip.

Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture thoroughly, then fold in the remaining egg whites just until no streaks of whites are visible. Don’t overfold.

Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake feels set close to the edges of the pan but the center is still rather soft to the touch and moist-looking. Let cool.