Prune Gingerbread

I really like prunes.  As a kid, my Mum would stew them and serve them with rice pudding. To quote Tim, prunes and rice pudding was "grouse".

I was therefore pleased to find a recipe for Prune Gingerbread in a recent issue of Australian Country magazine.  I like gingerbread and I like prunes, so it sounded like a match made in heaven.  This is a full bodied gingerbread, complete with molasses.

I think the gingerbread turned out well, but was just slightly too brown on the bottom for my liking.  Next time, I'd cut the cooking time, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this.

The recipe says to serve the gingerbread warm with sorbet, but it just as well served cold.

If you would like to try thins gingerbread recipe for yourself, you will need:

150g butter
150ml golden syrup
150ml molasses or treacle
125g dark brown sugar
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (didn't have any, left it out)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
300g plain flour
2 eggs
1 cup plain yoghurt
150g chopped stoned prunes

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius.  Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin.

Combine the butter, sugar, golden syrup, molasses and sugar in a saucepan. (Tip for measuring the syrup and molasses - oil your jug or measuring cup so that the syrup/molasses doesn't stick.) Heat gently until it all melts together and the sugar dissolves.  Cool.

Sift the spices, bicarb and flour into the  sugar mixture, and combine with a rubber spatula.  Whisk together the yoghurt and eggs, then combine with the cake batter.  Fold through the prunes.

Pour the cake batter into the cake tin, and bake for 1 hour or until cooked through.  Cool the cake in the tin for 15 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Slice into squares and serve warm with sorbet or icecream, or just eat it as is!