Grandma Iny's Prune Cake/Blackberry Ice Cream (Don't be fooled by the prune cake! It is amazing!)

It has been a while since I have posted any recipes. I have been busy making delicious food, I will share two of them with you now.

Grandma Iny's Prune Cake is a recipe I got from the Pioneer Woman.

This cake is delicious!! Don't be fooled by the prunes. You will love it. I also made Blackberry Ice Cream also from the Pioneer Woman. I goofed up while I was making the ice cream, I added the heavy cream at the wrong time and never really got a custard base but it still turned out pretty tasty.

This photo doesn't do these recipes justice. You are just going to have to make them to believe me! Someday my photos of food will be more appealing :).

Grandma Iny's Prune Cake

For the Cake:

1 cup prunes

1 cup sugar

3 whole eggs

1 cup Canola Oil

1 1/2 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the Icing:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. white corn syrup

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cover prunes with with water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft and mashable, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, drain water, and mash on a plate. Set aside. Mix together oil, sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients, add buttermilk and vanilla and stir gently until just combined. Throw in the mashed prunes and stir gently until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX! Pour batter into a buttered baking dish (9 by 13) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE! While cake has 5 minutes remaining, make the icing: combine all the ingredients in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a slow boil. Boil without stirring for 5 to 7 minutes, or until icing starts to turn dark. Do NOT allow icing to reach soft ball stage; icing should be caramel color, but not sticky like caramel. Icing should be easily pourable. Remove cake from oven and pour icing immediately. Allow to rest on counter. Serve warm.

            

Blackberry Ice Cream

2 pints fresh blackberries

Juice from 1/2 of a lemon

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

5 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Add blackberries to medium sauce pan with 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Cook over low heat, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain using fine mesh strainer, pressing berries to extract as much juice/puree as possible. Set aside. Heat half and half and 1 cup sugar in a separate saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat when mixture is totally heated. Add heavy cream to a separate bowl. Beat egg yolks by hand or with an electric mixer until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thick. Temper the egg yolks by slowly drizzling in 1 1/2 cups of hot half and half mixture, whisking constantly. After that, pour the egg yolk/half and half mixture into the pan containing the rest of the half and half mixture. Cook over medium-low heat until quite thick, stirring constantly. Drain custard using a fine mesh strain, than pour into the bowl with the heavy cream. Stir to combine. Add blackberry juice/puree to the cream/custard mixture and stir. Chill completely, than freeze in an ice cream maker until thick. Place container in freezer to harden, (or you can eat it soft) for an additional two hours.