California Prune and Almond Cake
This cake happens to be gluten and dairy free, but that isn’t what makes it healthy per se. Unless of course you have allergies to either of these things, gluten and dairy are not bad for us. The thing that makes this cake healthier than most is the type of fat that it contains. This cake uses olive oil instead of butter and almonds instead of flour, meaning it has a lot of heart-healthy mono- and poly unsaturated fat instead of the inflammatory saturated fat from butter. It does have sugar but not much making it more chocolaty and sophisticated rather than sweet, so the effect on blood sugar will be smaller than a usual cake.
Makes: 10Prep Time: 10Cook Time: 40
INGREDIENTS
- 150ml olive oil
- 3 medium eggs
- 80g sugar
- 75g prune puree
- 3tsp vanilla extract
- 60g cocoa
- Pinch of salt
- 100ml boiling water
- 150g ground almonds
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 150C fan.
- Oil and line a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. This is a very liquid mixture so if your tin is leaky (you can check this by filling it with water) then use a single piece of baking parchment to line the bottom and sides.
- Whisk the oil, eggs and sugar together until you have a pale, fluffy mixture (about 3-4mins). You can do this with a hand whisk or a food processor. Add the vanilla extract.
- Boil the kettle. While it is boiling, put the cocoa and salt in a smallish bowl and pour on the water once it’s boiled and stir. This intensifies the flavour of the cocoa. Add to the egg mixture with the prune puree and blend until you have a smooth mixture.
- Next stir in the almonds and the bicarb until completely combined. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and cook for 35-40mins.
- Check it is cooked by sticking a skewer into the centre. It should come out clean when it is cooked. If not, give it another few minutes then check again.
AUTHOR
Jo Travers BSc RD MBDA
Registered dietitian and professional nutritionist, author of the book The Bone-Strength Plan, Jo Travers is also known as “The London Nutritionist”. She has come onboard the California Prune Board as an ambassador to help us spread the word of the health and nutritional benefits of prunes.
NUTRITION FACTS
| CALORIES | 293 per serving |
| SATURATED FAT | 3.5g |
| FIBRE | 3.7g |
| PROTEIN | 5.9g |
| SODIUM | 99mg |
| CHOLESTEROL | 49mg |
| CARBOHYDRATE | 19.8g |