No bake boozy plum cake

Today I want to share a simple cake that works perfectly during carnival. We'll prepare a no bake boozy plum cake: a delicious dessert made out of chocolate custard filling and plums soaked in rum. We'll arrange it on a biscuit base and decorate it with a light layer of whipped cream.

 

Plums and chocolate form a perfect combination. Add distinct flavour of rum that add extra strength to chocolate as well as delicate cream, and you'll get a delicious cake that will be perfect for your party table.

You'll find the list of ingredients, method and approximate nutritional value below.

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List of ingredients (18 x 28 cm tin)

Chocolate filling

• 750 ml milk
• 3/4 cup (~150 g) sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 60 g cornstarch (~3 heaped tbsp)
• 60 g flour (~3 heaped tbsp)
• 3 tbsp cocoa (~40 g)
• 150 g butter

Decoration

• 150 g whipping cream
• 150 g mascarpone cheese
• 30 g icing sugar
• 2 squares dark chocolate

Also

• 300 g prunes
• 200 ml rum
• ~450 g biscuits
• 200 g plum jam

Method

1. Put 300 g finely cubed prunes into a medium bowl. Cover them with 200 ml white rum, stir through and make sure that plums are submerged. Set plums aside to soak for at least 6 hours, or ideally overnight. It is worth stirring them from time to time to make sure each piece gets well soaked in alcohol.
2. Pour 500 ml milk into a pot and add 150 g fine white sugar. Turn heat on to medium low and stir milk shortly, until sugar dissolves. Heat up milk until it starts to simmer. Keep an eye on it as milk likes to boil over.
3. Add 3 egg yolks, 60 g wheat flour and 60 g cornstarch into remaining 250 ml milk. Sift 40 g dark cocoa into the liquid. Stir the custard base thoroughly using a whisk to remove any lumps and get a thick, smooth liquid.
4. Once milk starts simmering, turn heat down to low and pour custard base in, stirring constantly. Turn heat back up to medium and cook the contents of the pot until thick, smooth custard forms, stirring constantly. It will take around 4-5 minutes. It is important to keep stirring custard so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
5. Once thick custard forms, take pot off heat and pour its contents into a wide dish. Spread the custard and cover it with a piece of plastic foil to prevent a thick skin from forming. Set custard aside to cool completely. If you want, you can prepare it a day ahead, together with plums.
6. Transfer soaked plums onto a fine sieve and distribute them so that liquid can drain off them slowly.
7. Arrange a layer of milk biscuits in the bottom of a rectangular baking tin, 18 x 28 cm, lined with baking paper. I'm arranging it in a brickwork pattern and cutting down the biscuits to shape if needed. Spread 200 g plum jam on top of biscuits. Arrange a second layer of biscuits on top of jam, at 90 degrees angle to the first layer.
8. Put 150 g soft butter into a large bowl. Cream butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time.
9. Start adding cool custard to creamed butter. Do it in batches, one spoonful at a time, combining custard and butter completely before adding the next part. It is important that butter and custard are both at room temperature, so if you prepared custard a day ahead take it out of a fridge together with butter.
10. Add drained plums into the filling and fold them in gently with a silicone spatula. Do it carefully not to break up plums that will be very tender at this point.
11. Transfer ready filling onto the biscuit base and spread it with a spatula across the whole surface. Arrange the next layer of biscuits on top of filling. I'm doing it in the same way, in a brickwork pattern, cutting biscuits to size as required.
12. Pour 150 ml cold whipping cream (36%) into a large bowl. Add 150 g cold mascarpone cheese and 30 g icing sugar. Whip the contents of the bowl until thick with an electric mixer.
13. Transfer whipped cream onto the cake and spread it across the whole surface. Grate 2 squares dark chocolate on top of the cream. Put the cake into a fridge for at least 6 hours, or best overnight, until chocolate filling sets.
14. Enjoy!

Approximate nutritional value

100 g

• 316 kcal
• Carbs: 34 g 
• Fat: 16 g
• Protein: 5 g
• Fibre: 2 g

1 slice (assuming 20 slices)

• 389 kcal
• Carbs: 42 g 
• Fat: 20 g
• Protein: 6 g
• Fibre: 2 g