French Prune Custard Cake
Enjoy this French custard cake recipe to make a classic French dessert - Far Breton - that combines prunes imbibed with rum in a rich, dense custard. 20 minutes of hands-on time rewards you with eight generous portions. A bonus: make ahead and take away options!
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (plus resting time)
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Custards
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
Scale
For soaking prunes:
- 2 cups + 5 1/2 teaspoons (500 ml) warm water
- 3 1/2 tablespoons (50 ml) rum
- 2 tea bags
For the batter:
- 20 stoned prunes
- 2/3 cup + 4 1/2 tablespoons (120 g) flour
- 1/2 cup + 3 1/2 teaspoons (130 g) sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- 1.7 oz (50 g) butter
- 2 cups + 5 1/2 teaspoons (500 ml) milk
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) rum
*Don't you have the correct baking pan on hand right now? Try this simple Cake Pan Converter!
** If needed, please refer to Baking Conversion Charts.
Instructions
- To soak prunes, place tea bags into warm water to infuse. Add rum, pitted prunes, and let it rest for two hours. Drain prunes with a colander and set them aside.
- Preheat oven to 395 F/200 C. Butter a square ceramic baking dish and place the drained prunes on the bottom.
- To make the custard, place eggs, sugar, and salt in a bowl and mix with a hand whisk. Add flour and mix to combine. Add the melted butter, cold milk, and rum, and whisk till the mixture becomes homogeneous. Pour the batter on top of prunes and bake at 395/200 C F for 10 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 345 F/170 C and bake for one hour longer.
Notes
- Soak prunes for 2 hours one day ahead. Drain them, cover, and let stand at room temperature or in the fridge. You can soak prunes overnight as well.
- Make the batter one day in advance as well, and keep it in the fridge.
- Replace rum with calvados or plum liqueur to vary the taste or omit alcohol to make the custard cake kid-friendly.
- Toss prunes in flour and add them into the poured batter (instead of arranging them on the bottom of the dish): they will float higher in the cake.
- Soak some raisins with prunes to make Far Breton with two kinds of fruit if you prefer.
- Don't open the oven during baking to prevent deflating of the cake before it is ready!
- Store Far Breton in the fridge for up to one to two: its flavors and textures will mature, and it will become firmer.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 305
- Sugar: 27.5 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 8.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.3 g
- Fiber: 1.7 g
- Protein: 7.1 g
- Cholesterol: 101 mg
Keywords: French custard cake, Far Breton, Far dessert, prune custard, Far Breton recipe, prune cake