Chocolate cake with prunes

The cream is quite dense; there can be a wide variety of options here. For those who love it airy, you should add the whipped cream + mascarpone + boiled condensed milk.

The chef added prunes soaked in whiskey and a lot of walnuts to the filling; the flavor and the taste are simply amazing! You can also vary the fillers: dried apricots, raisins, cherries. No matter how juicy the biscuit is, you better soak it with sugar and lemon.

The calculation is for 22 -24 cm (8.7 to 9.5 inch) cake.

For the sponge biscuit:

• 200 g flour | 7.05 oz
• 5 eggs | 5.00 items
• 250 g sugar | 8.80 oz
• 30 g cocoa | 1.05 oz
• 135 g vegetable oil | 4.75 oz
• 100 ml of water | 3.40 fl oz
• 0.5 tsp baking soda | 1.00 tsp
• 4 g baking powder | 0.15 oz
• 0.5 tsp salt | 1.00 tsp

For the custard fillers:

• 200 g walnuts | 7.05 oz
• 200 g prunes | 7.05 oz
• 50 ml amaretto (whiskey or rum for prunes) | 1.75 oz

For the custard:

• 200 g butter | 7.05 oz
• 500 g mascarpone | 17.65 oz
• boiled condensed milk | 2.00 lb

For soaking:

• 150 ml water | 5.10 fl oz
• 70 g sugar | 2.45 oz
• 2.5 tbsp lemon juice | 3.00 tbsp

1. Mix 200 g (7.05 oz) of sugar, cocoa, vegetable oil and water in a saucepan. Bring the mix to a boil, stirring constantly. Cool it.
2. Whip the eggs with 50 g (1.75 oz) of sugar until the volume increases by 2 to 2.5 times.
3. Mix the dry ingredients (after sifting them) - flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the chocolate mixture into the whipped eggs. Next, add the dry ingredients at a low mixer speed.
5. Pour the dough into a mold (cover the bottom with parchment), and bake it in the oven preheated to 180C (356F) for 40 to 45 minutes; check the readiness with a dry skewer. Let the biscuit cool completely, and remove it from the mold. Let the biscuit stabilize for 4 to 6 hours, and then divide it into 3-4 layers.

Cut the prunes into pieces, and soak them in rum for 1 hour. Fry and chop the nuts. Whip the softened butter, and add the boiled condensed milk in several passes; whip again. Whisk the mascarpone separately, and add it in several passed to the whipped butter with the condensed milk. Add the fillers to the custard, and mix.

Assemble the cake.

Bon Appetit!