(Family Features) If healthier eating holds a prominent spot on your list of goals, you may feel it’s necessary to eliminate some of your sweetest favorites. However, committing to a nutritionally friendly way of life doesn’t have to leave desserts by the wayside.
Instead, rethinking nighttime treats with better-for-you ingredients like California Prunes as a quick substitution can make healthier eating easy. As a versatile ingredient that can replace added sugar, fats and eggs in all kinds of recipes, prunes can also add nutrients important for bone and gut health.
Plus, the copper in prunes inhibits bone breakdown, while boron plays a role in calcium metabolism and polyphenols can help decrease bone breakdown through their antioxidant power. As a fruit that’s high in vitamin K, which helps improve calcium balance and promotes bone mineralization, prunes are also a “good gut food,” meaning a single serving (roughly 4-6 prunes) can help support a healthy microbiome.
To find more better-for-you desserts, visit californiaprunes.org.
Chocolate Covered Prune Fudge Cake
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
Yield: 1 cake (8 inches)
Cake:
Coconut oil spray
14 tablespoons butter, chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup cocoa powder
10 soft, pitted prunes, chopped small
1/3 cup maple syrup
6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 cup almond meal
Ganache:
1 cup full-fat coconut milk
1 1/3 cups dark chocolate morsels
To make cake: Preheat oven to 300 F. Lightly spray bottom and sides of 8-inch springform pan with coconut oil spray. Place round piece of parchment paper in bottom of pan and lightly spray with coconut oil spray.
In small saucepan over low heat, place butter and vanilla. Use sieve to sift cocoa into saucepan. Stir with spatula until completely smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
In bowl of food processor fitted with “S” blade, place prunes and syrup. Top with cooled butter mixture then process until smooth. Transfer to large mixing bowl, scraping all chocolate mixture from food processor with spatula.
In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip eggs and coconut sugar on high speed 7 minutes, or until tripled in volume.
Add one-third of egg mixture to bowl with chocolate mixture. Using spatula, gently fold together until completely combined. Add almond meal and remaining egg mixture to bowl and gently fold to combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 55 minutes, or until set. Once cooked through, transfer cake to cooling rack and cool completely in pan.
To make ganache: In top of double boiler, melt coconut milk and dark chocolate until completely smooth. Pour prepared ganache over cake. Serve immediately for molten fudge effect or allow to completely set.
Source: California Prunes
