Need a very special cake recipe. It has to have chocolate, it has to have as much dried fruit as possible, and it has to send my DD to the toilet

[Sputnik]

That's it really. I have forgotten the last time my DD pooed and she has become difficult to live with. She wouldn't eat much dried fruit on it's own and she only really likes chocolate cake, so I need to hide a large amount of dried fruit (was thinking apricots would be nice) in something very chocolatey. Any ideas?

As well as dried fruit give her lots of apple juice / apples, it has natural fructose which is a natural laxative.

We have had the same problems with both DD's, and they eat at least 7 lots of fruit and veggies a day!

Has she tried "Humzingers"? they are 100% dried fruit sticks. My DD's love them.

Nigella has done a christmas cake with chocolate in. I don't have the recipe though - sorry.

Doesn't chocolate bung some people up?

How about a warm chocolate and prune cake?

One possible recipe here.

Or this chocolate-prune cake might be a winner; the prunes are blended in so she's less likely to notice them.

Also, could you just dip dried fruit in melted chocolate and see if she'll eat that? Use prune juice to make ice lollies?

does she like orange juice with the bits in? have you spoke to your GP about her constipation?i wouldnt give her chocolate cake until i had exhausted every other option as chocolate can have a constipationary effect on some people. maybe try if all else fails to make a wholewheat flour and chocolate cake with
alot of mixed dried fruit mixed peel and maybe some apple or orange juice mixed into the cake mix. i will have a scan on tinternet for a recipe for you
xx ei xx

yes loads of liquid; orange and apple juice

smoothies

no banana

She used to like humzingers but went off them. When I was pregnant lindt mini eggs were my laxative of choice!

Warm chocolate and prune cake sounds nice. Recipe?

here or here i hope you find a solution soon
xx ei xx

Hmmm, she does normally have orange juice plus lots of fruit but hasn't for some reason recently, hence the problems. We've been out a lot, late nights, birthdays, guests etc so that's probably why.

Thanks for the recipes, will give them a look.

Chocolate fruitcake by Nigella Lawson

Serves 12
Cooking time over 2 hours

Ingredients
350g/12¼oz dried soft prunes, chopped
250g/8¾oz raisins
125g/4½oz currants
175g/6¼oz unsalted butter, softened
175g/6¼oz dark muscovado sugar
175ml/6¼fl oz honey
125ml/4½fl oz coffee liqueur
2 oranges, juice and zest only
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbsp good quality cocoa
3 free-range eggs, beaten
150g/5¼oz plain flour
75g/2½oz ground almonds
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
For decoration
25g/1oz dark chocolate-covered coffee beans
edible glitter
gold mini balls
about 10 edible gold stars

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
2. Line the sides and bottom of a 20cm/8in, 9cm/3½in deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
3. Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.
5. Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1¾-2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
6. Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
7. To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole of the cake. Sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the cake.

So do I EI, she was very whingy yesterday.

I have talked to the doc, as we've had this problem a bit in the past, she doesn't like to poo outside her comfort zone IYSWIM. She suggested plonking her on the toilet same time every day, but DD doesn't work like that really. She is just 4 btw

Wow, thanks chipo

Why not just tiffin or fridge cake with chopped dried apricots and prunes in - would be lovely and moist and chocolatey, I'd think! And easy to make, too.

another suggestion sputnik have you tried a variation of baby massage for her bowels? my DD is fond of holding onto her poo (shes 2.7yo). i find that clockwise circular strokes and the 'i love u' stroke where you make an 'i' stroke down the right hand side of DDs tummy 3 times then an upside down 'L' shape joining the I then an upsidedown 'U' shape tracing over the L and I shapes i find my DD poos about 30 mins after and a warm bath helps too
xx ei xx

Thanks ei, thankfully DD returned from nursery and pooed straight away, phew! She then had a fruit fest so hopefully things are back to normal. I will keep the massage thing in mind for next time though, as this does happen every so often, most notably last time we went on holiday, and she didn't poo for nearly a week!

For next time:

Chocolate & prune refrigerator bars
9 oz good milk chocolate
2 oz unsalted butter
4oz digestive biscuits
4 oz ready to eat prunes

Melt the butter & chocolate & mix together. Crush the biscuits & stir them into the melted chocolate with the roughly-chopped prunes.
Spoon into an 8" tin & smooth over. Chill for 1-2 hours, then cut into bars.

It is gorgeous - you might want to make it anyway.....

I may do, now I have 2 packets of prunes and a bar of chocolate burning a hole in my larder

let her dip fruit and dried fruit in melted chocolate, think dried apricots & choclate must taste nice, not sure about prunes though!