Vínarterta
This Icelandic recipe is a prune-based layer cake of awesome. I learned how to make it with icing, but found that it’s simpler and tastier without. Go ahead and double the almond extract and the cardamom if you enjoy these flavours. It’s twice as tasty that way.
Batter
- ¾ cup “butter”
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 “eggs” (banana or powdered replacer works fine here)
- 1 tsp. ground cardamom
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 1 tbsp. water
- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tsp. baking powder
Filling
- 1½ lbs prunes
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
Method
- Turn the batter into dough. Cream the “butter” and sugar, add in the “eggs”, then the cardamom, vanilla, almond and water. Once it’s all beaten together, add in the flour and baking powder (pre-sifted). Add the “eggs” a bit at a time, beating after each addition.
- Make the cake layers Roll out the dough on a floured surface and make 10 circles wide and thin. Bake each at 375°F for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
- Cook the filling Cover prunes with water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil until they’re soft. Drain the prunes, remove the pits and puree them in a blender (mashing’ll work too). Put the prunes back in the saucepan and the remaining filling ingredients. Boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Let it cool until you can touch it.
- Combine into 2 cakes. Spread an equal amount of filling on each of 4 layers, then stack 5 layers to make a cake, using one of the unfilled layers as the top layer. Repeat with the other cake. Cover them with waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 days before cutting.