Bourke Street Bakery's chocolate and prune brownie

Chocolate and prunes are one of my favourite flavour combinations and they work so well together in this chocolate and prune brownie from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. The prunes lend a delicious, chewy richness to the brownie, which is closer to the fudgey end (as opposed to the cakey end) of the brownie spectrum.

To make the prunes extra-delicious, you soak them in brandy for three days before using. I reduced the quantity of prunes to 250g of prunes, simply because the prunes I buy come in 250g bags. Adding more wouldn't hurt but 250g seemed enough, even to a prune-lover like me. I also halved the amount of soaking-brandy to 100ml as I don't like the alcoholic burning sensation that booze-soaked dried fruit can give. A little heat is pleasant but I don't like burning! Feel free to adjust the quantities to suit your tastes.

Don't do what I did and slice into the brownie within minutes of it leaving the oven. Try and be patient and leave it to cool. It'll be much easier to slice.

Next time I bake this I'll make it in a bigger tin. I used a 16 x 26cm (rather than the 20 x 30cm stated in the recipe) so my brownies were solid, square bricks rather than slim, elegant fingers.

If you're ever in Sydney, visit the Bourke Street Bakery (in three locations) or their "little sister" Central Baking Depot. It is one of the loveliest bakeries I have ever visited - one of those places where you need take at least one friend with you so you can try lots of different things between you... and take away a wee treat with you for later on! On one (brief) trip to Sydney I visited three times so I could work my way through as many of their delightful cakes and pastries as possible!

Chocolate & prune brownie

Adapted slightly from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook

250g pitted prunes

100ml brandy (or congnac or hot tea)

55g plain flour

40g unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

300g dark chocolate

80g butter

300g caster sugar

4 eggs

100g sour cream

Place the prunes in a bowl, pour over brandy (or other liquid of choice), cover and leave for three days.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a baking dish (20cm x 30cm).

Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.

Place chocolate, butter and sugar into a stainless steel bowl and sit over a saucepan of simmering water (bot touching base of bowl) and stir until melted.

Cool chocolate mixture then get your beaters ready and add the eggs, one-at-a-time, beating after each addition. Add flour and mix to combine, then add sour cream, chocolate melts (if using) and prunes with any remaining soaking liquid.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until just set. Cool completely in the tin before turning out and slicing with a hot knife. Store at room temperature... for as long as it lasts!

baking swap

I used the can of duche de leche I made in the slow cooker to make chocolate caramel brownie. I used the recipe for "caramello brownie" from Enjoy! by Sophie Gray but instead of making caramel using condensed milk, butter and golden syrup I used the pre-caramelised condensed milk.

The recipe said to pour some of the brownie into the tin and then alternately pour in the caramel then use a skewer to swirl. In hindsight, it would have worked better if I'd poured in the brownie then poured the caramel over before swirling together. Doing it as the recipe said resulted in patches of caramel on the bottom of the tin that didn't set and it all merged together creating a dense, chewy, chocolately mess. I was hoping it would turn out like the Floridita's chocolate caramel brownie you buy in slabs from Moore Wilson but it wasn't to be. You couldn't distinguish the caramel from the brownie in my version.

As luck would have it, Dad was in Wellington for a meeting on Wednesday so the brownie was shared between Wellington and Christchurch. I packed up a little box of brownie and left it at the hotel reception for him to collect after his meeting. Waiting for me was another little box containing some of Becs deliciously yeasty crumpets and the best muffins I've ever eaten made by Sarah. Thanks to Dad for providing the same-day courier service.

Baking swaps a such a good idea. You only have to bake one thing but get to try several! Becs attended a baking swap afternoon tea a couple of Christmases ago where everyone took along a tin full of something and the recipe, and went home with a tin full of everyone else's baking. Something organise for later in the year perhaps!

All boxed up and ready for its journey South...