I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying that brilliant time of year between Christmas and New Year where time seems to standstill and everyone survives on cheese and leftover ham and mincepies (or is that just me). For my last post of 2022 I wanted to post a recipe from my book Small Batch Bakes. The recipe is one I have been making a lot over the Christmas period and whilst not particularly festive its warming flavour is the perfect warming wintery treat, especially if you’ve run out if mince pies or Christmas cake and you need something else to accompany your evening plate of cheese and crackers.

If you like sticky toffee pudding you will love these little cakes. Made from a similar set of ingredients, these squidgy little cakes are made with prunes which add both a lot of flavour and help keep the cakes moist for days. Whilst the cakes might look a little underwhelming or maybe even boring I can safely say they are wonderful, they’re actually my boyfriends favourite recipe from Small Batch Bakes, they’re simple but with layers of flavour coming from every single ingredient. Brown sugar is supplemented with a little treacle to add depth, rye flour is used in place of white flour which has no inherent flavour of its own, the prunes are soaked in tea to add even more flavour

Buy yourself a copy of Small Batch Bakes here!

Prune Tea Cakes
Makes 6

40g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
115g ready-to-eat prunes, halved
150ml brewed black tea (I like earl grey)
75g light brown sugar
1 tbsp black treacle
1 large egg
75g wholemeal rye flour
25g plain flour
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4, and lightly grease a six-hole muffin tray.

Put the prunes in a small saucepan, pour in the hot tea and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until almost all the liquid has been absorbed by the fruit.

Meanwhile, put the butter, sugar and treacle in a bowl and beat for about five minutes, until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg until fully combined. In another bowl, whisk the flours, salt and baking powder, then add to the butter mixture and mix briefly just to combine.

Take the pan of prunes off the heat, add the bicarb and stir just until it starts to foam. Add to the batter and mix briefly until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tray, sprinkle liberally with demerara sugar, then bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cakes spring back to a light touch. Remove and leave to cool for five minutes, then carefully turn out and put on a wire rack to cool completely. The cakes will keep in a sealed container for at least four days.