black mission fig honey cake.

After buying some figs for my snack yesterday, I knew that I wanted to use the remainder of them for some sort of a dessert. Truth be told, somehow I have never actually baked with fresh figs (dried, yes) but I have recently had a major obsession with all the beautiful desserts using them that I frequently see all over the internet (thanks Tastespotting). Fig tarts, tiny pastries, custardy sweets... I have been eyeing them all with a hungry belly for awhile now.

So this afternoon, while browsing through the beautiful cookbook A Passion For Desserts, I came across a recipe for this delectable fig and honey cake that I had all of the ingredients for. It is a thick vanilla & honey batter layered with fresh black mission figs sprinkled with brown sugar. Alice and I both agreed that the batter itself is extremely versatile and could easily be piped into little Bundt pans and layered with anything from jam to caramel. It created a moist, flavorful cake that was absolutely delicious. And it was gobbled up very, very quickly.









Black Mission Fig Honey Cake: adapted from A Passion for Desserts

Ingredients:

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
4 large eggs
1 cup yogurt (the original recipe called for sour cream, but I used a thick honey Greek yogurt which I think made a nice sweet creaminess to the batter)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 fresh Black Mission Figs, stems removed and quartered
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 or 10-inch Bundt pan and dust with flour.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth, 1 minute with a stand mixer or 3 minutes with a handheld mixer. Add the granulated sugar and honey and mix until blended. Mix in the eggs one at a time, combining well between each addition. Stir in the yogurt.

In a separate bowl, or on a piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. On low speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. In a small bowl, mix together the figs and brown sugar.

Spread one-third of the batter into the prepared pan. Place half of the figs evenly over the batter. Gently spread another third of the batter on top. Spread the remaining figs and then the remaining batter in the pan.

Bake the cake until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Be sure to test a couple areas in the cake. If you skewer a fig the skewer will be wet. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes. Unmold by placing a large plate on top of the pan, inverted the pan and plate together, and then removing the pan.