More fun with the old cookbook, and using up things. [View all]

The pantry had a little over 8 oz of pitted prunes. DH wanted them at one time and actually ate a few, but better than half the carton has been just sitting there for way too long. The only way I'll eat them is if I have to, in a kolache, hamentaschen or some other pastry, and even then, I prefer poppyseed. Still, the prunes had to go.

Rombauer had an interesting-sounding recipe for a spice cake flavored with prune pulp. Ok, I'll give it a shot. First, I stewed the prunes, added a little sugar (which I'm not really sure was necessary), cooked them a little longer and put them through a food mill. This gave me a prune jam which is...not bad, actually. Apparently, it'll last a while in the fridge, too.

Then the cake. I followed every direction to the letter, sifting cake flour into the measuring cup and then again with the other dry ingredients. Butter or shortening was 1/2 to 1 cup and I used the lesser amount of butter. Everything else per the directions (the butter, sugar and eggs beaten until almost white), and the batter tasted quite good.

Baking went awry. There just isn't enough structure for the weight of the other ingredients. Also, I elected to try them as cupcakes for portion control and there's too much batter for a pan of 12 cupcakes. They have crispy edges (I was worried and actually scorched a couple making sure the middle was done), but the body just gives way under the weight of the top.

Still, the flavor's great and there's a lot of promise here. We're eating them upside down, holding onto the crispy edges and eating the soft parts first, but DH keeps saying how good they are. I'm going to have to work on this. I could make several batches, adding progressively more cake flour but that seems wasteful.

So next time, I'm using all-purpose flour, same volume measurement, but more heft. (The sifted cake flour came in at 3.2 oz per cup, and I usually figure all-purpose for 5 oz per cup.) If that's too bready, I can sift the AP flour pre-measure for a little less weight on a third try. I'm also going to default to a 13x9" pan. The recipe allowed for 2 layers, 1 deep layer, or a tube pan and later referred to a loaf, so there's wiggle room.

But now I have to buy more prunes. That wasn't the idea.