Old School Prune Cake

From ripe, juicy plum to wrinkled prune may be a petrifying analogy to our human journey, but you got to admit prunes have more taste than putrefying flesh (not that I'd know for sure). Intensified with the right ingredients, you got a bomb of a cake. This recipe is my mother’s, and it goes with any occasion.

1.5 cups prunes
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup soft butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Pit and dice prunes. Add lemon rind, set aside. Grease and flour a 9’’ tube pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, salt; remove a quarter cup and toss with prunes. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. slowly beat in flour mixture, alternately with sour cream and vanilla, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in prunes, brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees 55 minutes or until done. Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before digging in.

The interesting thing about this recipe is it was imported to Denmark 35 years ago by my then au-pairing mother in Rhode Island. Now it’s back in New York and hittin' the vibe of high-calorie coffee cakes, right in tune.