I have found a few prune cake recipes in some of the old cookbooks but they are not "the" prune cake.  I have delayed sending this because the only copy I could find was for a triple batch.  Triple?  Yeah, she used to make about 20 each of pies and cakes for Christmas so there would be plenty for folks to take home.  Coconut cream, lemon, chess, chocolate, and butterscotch pies.  All with meringue topping, of course.   White and yellow cakes with chocolate frosting, white frosting, strawberry frosting.  Chocolate cakes with white and chocolate frostings.   And of course prune cakes, always with the fudge frosting.

I found a "single batch" copy today.  In her hand, dated 8-13-84, postmarked the next day.
If you don't tell about the prunes, folks think you have somehow made a very moist and dark spice cake.  You could make this as a sheet cake.  One of the nieces brought one to Christmas in Comanche last year ('02) and while it was very good it just wasn't the same.  This needs to be a layer cake.

This is "the" prune cake:


Prune cake

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup crisco
2 eggs
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnimon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed prunes "moist"

Cream sugar and crisco, add eggs and beat.  Sift salt and spices with flour, dissolve soda in buttermilk.  Add milk and flour alt. with sugar crisco and eggs.  Add prunes and vanilla.  Cook in 2 greased and floured 9 inch pans at 350 until toothpick comes out clean.  About 30 to 35 minutes.



Icing

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoon cocoa
pinch of salt
1 cup milk

Mix sugar, cocoa, and salt.  Add enough milk to make a paste.  Add rest of milk and cook over med. heat until it forms a ball in cold water.  "Don't forget the tail"  Ha.  Add 1/3 to 1/2 stick of butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla when removing from fire.  Stir until butter dissolves -- let sit until ready to frost cake.
-- 

She simmered the prunes for quite a while, until very soft.  After draining (and saving the juice), she mashed them, like potatoes (but without adding salt, pepper, and butter) and used a heaping cup full.   Don't fake the frosting with Betty Crocker plastic chocolate in the tub.  The frosting is always different and that's a lot of the charm of prune cake.  Usually it is "just right", but I remember a few times when it wouldn't stay on the cake and you had to spoon it like gravy onto your slice of cake.  It was rainy weather.   I remember a couple of times when she said she over-cooked the frosting and it was just like my mom's fudge.  Having to smack the cake with the handle of a butter knife to crack the frosting before you could cut a slice is different.  🙂       It's always good.