Heart Healthy Dessert: Chocolaty Cakes with Prunes in Marsala

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

½ oz cocoa powder, plus a little extra for dusting
3 large eggs
1 level tablespoon granulated sweetener
Flavourless oil for greasing

For the filling:

12 ready-to-eat prunes
1½ fl oz Marsala
2 rounded tablespoons low fat fromage frais
1 teaspoon granulated sweetener
1 teaspoon chocolate extract

You will also need four 1½ inch deep ramekins with a base measurement of 3 inches, very lightly greased, and a small baking tray.

Method:

1.    First of all, place the prunes in a small saucepan with the Marsala. Bring them up to simmering point and leave to cool. Transfer them to a small, lidded plastic box and leave to soak for as long as possible, turning them now and then.

2.    When you're ready to make the cakes, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

3.    Then separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a medium-sized bowl and the whites in a large bowl. Whisk the yolks and the sweetener together quite briskly for about one minute, then sift the cocoa powder on to the yolks, whisking briefly until well blended. Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the egg whites to the soft-peak stage. (They need to be standing up in peaks that just nod over when you lift the whisk.) After that, fold a tablespoon of the egg white into the chocolate mixture, then quickly but carefully fold in the rest.

4.    Divide the mixture between the ramekins, then place on the baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until they feel springy but still a bit wobbly. Remove them from the oven (don't be alarmed to see them shrink, that's quite normal.) When they're cool enough to handle, slide a small palette knife around the edges and turn out first on to the palm of your hand, then right-side up on to a cooling rack.

5.    While they're cooling, make the filling. Drain the prunes, reserving the liquid. Next, measure the fromage frais into a bowl, together with the sweetener and chocolate extract, then add the prune-soaking liquid and whisk everything together. Now transfer the prunes to a board, reserving four of them for the tops of the cakes, and roughly chop the rest, before folding them into the fromage-frais mixture.

6.    Finally, slice the chocolate cakes in half horizontally, fill with the prune mixture and sandwich the two halves together again. Pop a whole prune on top of each one and dust lightly with cocoa powder before serving.

Nutritional information:

Per serving (1 cake): calories 155, 6.2 grams fat, and 1.9 grams saturated fat.

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This recipe is taken from Delia Smith's How to Cook Book Three and The Delia Collection: Chocolate.