Friday, March 29, 2013

Westhaven Cake - My Druga Baba's Mysterious Prune Cake (Week 14)

For years, I heard my Mom and her sisters talk of this really moist, insanely delicious prune and chocolate cake (yes....prune!). I have been the "kitchen crash test dummy" for her many failed attempts as my saintly great grandmother took that recipe to her grave (and, if you know old Croatian women....they take those recipes very, very seriously!) My cousin Diane actually followed her Teta Franka around the kitchen with a glass so she could "eyeball" the approximation of her "just a little of this" or "just a little of that." My sister and I never got around to tailing my Baka Maria and her sponge cake went to the great kitchen in the sky!

Last weekend, my pal Genny and I were talking about her grandmother's cake and it sounded similar to the mysterious prune cake (except it had dates). Well.....dried fruit is dried fruit in my book so here is my attempt at the mysterious prune cake (Genny's grandmother's Westhaven cake).

1 c chopped prunes
1 c boiling water (pour it over the prunes)
1/2 lb butter (1 stick) added to the water. Stir till dissolved and let cool.

1 c chopped nuts
1c sugar
2 eggs beaten. Mix in to the prune stuff. I ran this trough the food processor so that the consistency was a bit more smooth.

Sift 1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Pour into a eased and floured 9x13 and sprinkle, with 1 c chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (I omitted the nuts on the top since I knew my great grandmothers was "nutlets" on top) Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour. Dust with powdered sugar.





No comments:

Post a Comment