This prune honey cake rose beautifully and was stunningly tall. The layers are fluffy, moist, creamy, and studded with sweet prunes.

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My entire family was smitten with this prune honey cake; especially Mom. She had 2 slices ;). This cake is traditionally called Chernosliv (black prune cake). I’ve been developing the recipe for months and was really close to throwing in the towel because my initial cake layers looked more like bowls rather than cakes.

I felt this cake was worth-while so I stubbornly continued on with my experiments. Now it’s finally perfect! This prune honey cake rose beautifully and was stunningly tall. The layers are fluffy, moist, creamy, and studded with sweet prunes. 

P.S. There’s a very cool baking soda/honey chemical reaction in this cake. Like “kids come check this out” type of cool!

 

Ingredients for the Prune Honey Cake Layers:

6 large eggs, room temp
1 cup white granulated sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour *measured correctly
5 Tbsp honey
2 tsp baking soda

Ingredients For the Frosting:

32 oz sour cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Fillings/Toppings/Decor:

1 1/2 cups chopped prunes
Melting Chocolate or Chocolate chips to melt for decor
Chocolate block for shavings

Prune Honey Cake Recipe

How to Make the honey cake layers:

Butter and line the bottoms of 2 (9-inch cake pans) with parchment paper. Preheat the Oven to 325˚F.

Prune Honey Cake Recipe-5

1. Using your electric stand mixer, beat 6 large eggs with 1 cup sugar 5  minutes on high-speed.

Prune Honey Cake

2. {Here’s the cool chemical reaction part: did you know honey activates baking soda?} Heat 5 Tbsp honey in a saucepan  over medium heat until it is very hot, but not boiling (about 125˚F), stirring often.

Just as soon as you see faint bubbling on the edges,  use a spoon to stir in the 2 tsp baking soda into the honey stirring continuously until your mixture turns a yellow/light caramel color (about 30-45 seconds seconds) and immediately remove from heat. It will continue to cook even after you remove from heat. Continue stirring until you’re finished adding it to the egg mixture.

Prune Honey Cake-1

This is what it looks like by the time you are ready to spoon it into the egg mixture. You don’t want it darker than this and it happens quick so don’t step away from it!

Prune Honey Cake Recipe-9

3. With the mixture on high speed, add hot honey to the egg mixture about 1 Tbsp at a time so you don’t cook your egg mixture. Also, don’t wait for your honey mixture to cool down or it will harden and you won’t be able to blend it into your egg mixture.

Honey Cake

See that honey on the edges of the bowl? That’s pretty much candy. It’s expected. You won’t be able to scrape it  down into the bowl, but don’t worry, it washes off easily.

Prune Honey Cake Recipe-11

4. Reduce mixer speed to med/low and blend in flour 1 cup at a time. Use a spatula to scrape down the mixing bowl to make sure the flour is well blended.

Prune Honey Cake-2

5. Just as soon as the flour is well incorporated, divide into two prepared baking pans and bake at 325° for 25-28 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Prune Honey Cake-3

Once they are cool enough to handle, remove from the pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Prune Honey Cake Recipe-18

To make the Honey Cake frosting:

1. Beat the heavy cream until stiff and spreadable (1-2 min on high speed).

Prune Honey Cake Recipe-19

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together 32 oz sour cream with 2 cups powdered sugar. Fold the whipped cream into the sour cream and you have your frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prune Honey Cake-4

Honey Cake Assembly:

1. Once your cake is completely cooled to room temp, slice your cake layers in half and keep the halves stacked until ready to assemble so your cake doesn’t dry out.

Prune Honey Cake Recipe-24

2. Order of layers (assemble the cake on your serving platter).
(A) First cake layer (B) enough frosting to cover the layer  (C) 1/3 of your chopped prunes (D) thin layer of frosting on the bottom of the next cake layer (like putting mayo on both sides of bread for a sandwich), then repeat steps (A-D). Frost the outside of the cake and sides then decorate with piped strips of melted chocolate, chocolate shavings and more prunes. Prunes prunes the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you,… did I really just go there? Sorry about that. Lol. Anyway, I think the song was meant for beans. oh nevermind! :-O.

Prune Honey Cake-5

3. I melted some chocolate and piped it on over the top in a checkerboard fashion, then put some horizontal lines on it for extra awesomeness.

Healthier Carrot Cake-3

Come to Mama.

This prune honey cake rose beautifully and was stunningly tall. The layers are fluffy, moist, creamy, and studded with sweet prunes.

P.P.S. This cake is best eaten the next day after the layers and prunes have gotten a chance to soften up with the velvety sour cream frosting.

Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook

Prune Honey Cake Recipe

4.99 from 64 votes
Author: Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 28 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 12

For the Cake:

  • 6 large eggs, room temp
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 5 Tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp baking soda

For the Frosting:

Fillings/Toppings/Decor:

  • 1 1/2 cups chopped prunes
  • Melting Chocolate or Chocolate chips to melt for decor
  • Chocolate block for shavings

Instructions

How to Make the honey cake layers:

  • Butter and line the bottoms of 2 (9-inch cake pans) with parchment paper. Preheat the Oven to 325˚F.
  • Beat 6 large eggs with 1 cup sugar 5 minutes on high-speed.
  • Heat 5 Tbsp honey in a saucepan over medium heat until it is very hot, but not boiling (about 125˚F), stirring often. Just as soon as you see faint bubbling on the edges, use a spoon to stir in the 2 tsp baking soda into the honey stirring continuously until your mixture turns a yellow/light caramel color (about 30-45 seconds seconds) and immediately remove from heat. It will be fluffy. It will continue to cook even after you remove from heat. Continue stirring until you're finished adding it to the egg mixture. You don't want it darker than a yellow caramel by the time you are ready to add it to your egg mixture and it happens quick so don't step away from it!
  • With the mixture on high speed, add hot honey to the egg mixture about 1 Tbsp at a time so you don't cook your egg mixture. Also, don't wait for your honey mixture to cool down or it will harden and you won't be able to blend it into your egg mixture.
  • Reduce mixer speed to med/low and blend in flour 1 cup at a time. Use a spatula to scrape down the mixing bowl to make sure the flour is well blended.
  • Just as soon as the flour is well incorporated, divide into two prepared baking pans and bake at 325° for 25-28 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove from the pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting,

  • Beat the heavy cream until stiff and spreadable (1-2 min on high speed).
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together 32 oz sour cream with 2 cups powdered sugar. Fold the whipped cream into the sour cream and you have your frosting. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembly:

  • Once your cake is completely cooled to room temp, slice your cake layers in half and keep the halves stacked until ready to assemble so your cake doesn't dry out.
  • Order of layers (assemble the cake on your serving platter).
  • (A) First cake layer (B) enough frosting to cover the layer (C) 1/3 of your chopped prunes (D) thin layer of frosting on the bottom of the next cake layer (like putting mayo on both sides of bread for a sandwich), then repeat steps (A-D). Frost the outside of the cake and sides then decorate with a checkerboard design of piped strips of melted chocolate, chocolate shavings and more prunes.
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Russian, Ukrainian
Keyword: Prune Honey Cake
Skill Level: Medium
Cost to Make: $$

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Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.

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Comments

  • Alina
    March 11, 2024

    Hi, can I freeze this cake whole ? Is it freezer friendly ? Thank you

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      March 11, 2024

      Hi Alina, generally cakes freeze well, I imagine this one will also. I hope you love it.

      Reply

  • Karina
    February 9, 2023

    Loved this cake! Do you think the batter could be used for cupcakes?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      February 9, 2023

      Hi Karina, I haven’t tried this as cupcakes, but here is what one of my readers wrote: “1. Cupcakes: I wanted to test this recipe, so I made half a batch of batter, added blue berries (the prunes just didn’t work for me), and spooned it into a 12 serving muffin tin sprayed with non-stick cooking spray (fill each cup almost full with batter.They will be taller and a better color). Next time, I’ll put the batter in a ziplock bag, cut the corner, and pipe it to avoid the mess. Be sure to flour the berries to keep them from sinking. I forgot. I cooked as directed above, but only 10-turn-10 minutes. At about 12 minutes, they were looking very brown so I covered them with tin foil. Be sure to spray the foil to keep it from sticking.
      The results were amazing. They have a flavor reminiscent of a sugar cone. It dissolved in my mouth. I can’t imagine how decadent they would be with a frosting. The cream+sour cream recipe above might be very, very good.” I hope this helps!

      Reply

  • Tina
    December 30, 2021

    Hi Natasha why is the sponge not rising evenly? What the problem can be?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      December 30, 2021

      Hi Tina, several different factors could explain why it didn’t rise or rise evenly. I recommend ensuring there were no substitutions made to the recipe. Also, I recommend double-checking the steps with the honey, and baking soda – those steps are critical to activate the baking soda and have the cake rise properly – also, be sure you are beating the eggs and sugar at high speed with a high-powered mixer.

      Reply

  • Suz
    November 18, 2021

    I’ve been making this cake for years. It’s always been a smash hit, always have my uncle’s ask for me to make them their own. Lol

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      November 18, 2021

      That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Suz!

      Reply

  • Alina
    May 29, 2021

    Absolutely the best, everyone enjoys this cakes and it usually gone in minutes!

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      May 29, 2021

      That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Alina!

      Reply

  • Zhenya
    April 6, 2021

    Hello Natasha, Could you tell why my frosting is runny? Do I need add more powdered sugar?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      April 6, 2021

      Hi Zhenya, make sure to use HEAVY whipping cream and beat until stiff and spreadable. Also, make sure to use a thick full-fat sour cream like the Daisy brand one that I have in the photos and that will help. If the heavy cream was not beaten enough it will be difficult to thicken it up after that.

      Reply

  • Angie
    March 23, 2021

    This is one of my favorite cakes to bake and eat, it’s so decadent, and I’ve made it far too many times now for years.
    The only changes I do is tort the two cake layers into four pieces, so in all, I have eight layers. I find that thinner layers soak up the sour cream frosting better and the cake is so much more moist.
    Next, instead of putting 32oz of sour cream into the frosting, I put 16oz, because with 32oz it’s very thin and I would always have lots of extra frosting. 16oz is perfect to frost the whole cake.
    Thank you for the recipe Natasha <3

    Reply

    • Natasha's Kitchen
      March 24, 2021

      Nice, thanks for sharing some of the changes that you’ve tried for this recipe. I’m glad you loved it!

      Reply

  • Natasha
    March 23, 2021

    This cake is amazing! Ive made it countless times. However every time i make the frosting, it comes out super thin. It’s impossible to frost with. I always need to add extra heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to thicken it. I follow your recipe exactly but always have trouble with the frosting. Any ideas why?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      March 23, 2021

      Hi Natasha, are you sure you’re using heavy whipping cream and not just whipping cream?

      Reply

  • Mary
    November 23, 2020

    Would this be good with added nuts? Would you toast them if so? Or better without?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      November 23, 2020

      Hi Mary, I haven’t tested that to advise. If you happen to experience I would love to know how you like that.

      Reply

  • LYDIA
    November 17, 2020

    Hi Natasha! This cake looks amazing and I can’t wait to bake it. I was wondering if I could make the cakes one evening and frost them the next day? I have 4 little children and I can easily get overwhelmed with baking..

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      November 18, 2020

      Hi Lydia, That should work! I hope you love this recipe!

      Reply

  • Victoria
    October 19, 2020

    Hi, Natasha!

    I noticed you use a 9-inch cake pan for a lot of your desserts. How deep is your cake pan? I’m looking at purchasing a couple of pans and I am having trouble deciding on the depth. What size, in depth, do you tend to use most?

    Reply

    • Natashas Kitchen
      October 19, 2020

      Hi Victoria, I believe it is 2.5 inches but our favorite tools can be found in our blog shop HERE.

      Reply

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