You start by slicing fresh figs and layering them in the bottom of your pan with some brown sugar and butter. Then you mix up an easy, buttery batter and pour it right over the top. As it bakes, the figs turn jammy and when you flip the whole thing out, you get a glossy, golden fig cake that looks far fancier than it actually is.
Fig season can be brief and unpredictable, but when you spot those baskets at the market in the summer and fall, grab as many as you can. This cake comes together fast—perfect for getting the most out of the season. Read on for some ideas of ways to incorporate more flavor, or jump to the recipe to start baking.
[2025 update: This recipe was originally published in June of 2019 as an orange blossom fig upside-down cake, but I’ve since changed it to be more flexible, with lots of different options. There are instructions in the recipe for making the original.]
Fig cake ingredients and flavors
There are so many ways to get creative with this recipe. Here are a few of my favorites:
Other flavors you can incorporate into the cake
- Vanilla extract: This is a classic and cozy flavor that adds warmth without competing with the figs. Add a teaspoon or two and you won’t have to worry about your fig cake tasting plain, but it also won’t overshadow anything.
- Almond extract: Just a drop or two gives the cake a toasty, marzipan-like flavor. Use sparingly—almond extract and almond flavor are both pretty strong.
- Cinnamon and other warm spices: Try cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, or even a pinch of ground cloves. These give this fig cake a spiced, almost autumnal feel.
- Orange blossom water: You can add up to 1 Tbsp orange blossom water in this recipe for a fragrant, floral note that’s not too overpowering.
- Rosewater: Use in place or alongside the orange blossom water for a more intense floral note. A little goes a long way, so try 1 tsp in the batter (maybe 2 if you really love the taste of rose). If you don’t add quite enough and are disappointed after baking, you can always drizzle a tiny bit over the top of the cake to compensate. You can add more, but you can’t take away.
Buttermilk instead of yogurt
I usually go for buttermilk in cases like this, but yogurt felt simpler. It’s probably already in your fridge and it gives the same moisture and tang. That way, when you do happen to find some figs at the market, you can go right home and bake this cake without having to make an extra stop. But if you do have buttermilk on hand, you can use an equal amount in place of the yogurt.
Fig cake (super easy showstopper)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients
For the fig and brown sugar bottom:
- Butter for greasing the pan
- 4 Tbsp [57g] melted butter
- 1/2 cup [100g] light brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 10.5oz [300g] small fresh figs*
for the yogurt cake:
- 1 1/2 cups [200g] flour
- 1 1/4 tsp [5g] baking powder
- 1/4 tsp [1.5g] baking soda
- 1/2 tsp [3g] salt
- 2 large room temperature eggs
- 4 Tbsp [55g] melted and cooled butter
- 3/4 cup [150g] granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup [170g] plain yogurt**
- Additional flavorings (optional, see ideas above recipe)
Instructions
- To prep the fig and brown sugar bottom: Butter one 8-inch round cake pan. Cover the bottom with a parchment round.
- Mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, and salt, and pour it over the parchment-covered cake pan. Use an offset spatula to spread the brown sugar out evenly over the bottom until it’s completely covered.
- Slice the figs in half. Arrange the figs cut-side-down over the buttery brown sugar.
- To bake the cake: Preheat the oven to 350° F convection (177° C).
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Beat the eggs and butter together until they are very well incorporated. Then add the sugar, yogurt, and orange blossom water, and beat to combine well.
- Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture, and stir together just until everything is combined. It won’t be completely smooth, and there might be some tiny lumps; this is completely fine. Don’t over-mix!
- Carefully pour the batter over the figs, smooth out the top a little bit with a spatula, and bake for about 30 minutes. It’s done once you can insert a toothpick into the center and batter doesn’t stick to it. It may take longer than 30 minutes to cook through, especially if your figs have a lot of moisture.
- Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the cake pan. Then trace around the edge with a butter knife to make sure it’s loosened from the pan. Place a plate or cake-stand upside-down over the cake. Put on your grippiest oven mitts, and hold the plate and cake together so that your thumbs are underneath the cake pan. Carefully and quickly rotate it away from yourself and give it a quick up-and-down shake to release the cake from the pan. Remove the pan, slice, and serve.
Notes
* If you can’t find small figs, you can use larger ones. Just make sure you cut them into about 1/2-inch slices instead of cutting them in half. To get the same look as these photos, slice the figs along their equators instead of stem to end.
** If you have Greek yogurt, you can substitute it here, but make sure you water it down before measuring (using either a little milk or water). It needs to be the approximate consistency of plain, unstrained yogurt (Greek yogurt doesn’t have as much moisture).
General note: this recipe used to be for orange blossom fig cake, but I’ve since changed it to be more flexible. It’s great with a lot of different options. If this has been a favorite of yours since the beginning, the original recipe called for 1 Tbsp orange blossom water, so feel free to use that, and it’ll be just like the old days.
Comments from before Jul 10 2025 are from the version of this recipe that included orange blossom water. Any newer comments are for this version. The difference between these versions is that the new version gives you more options. The rest of the ingredients in the cake recipe have not changed.
Absolutely, wildly delicious! But I ended up baking it twice (sort of). I used the 1/2 cup buttermilk suggested, and then followed the recipe exactly (except for the addition of a 1/2 tsp. cardamom and 1 tsp. ground coriander seed), and found that 30 minutes in the oven left me with a largely uncooked cake. I assumed it was done because the top was quite firm and springy. Later on, my clever daughter in law just popped it back in the oven at 350 for another 30 minutes or so, and, while the texture was maybe like a bread pudding rather than a cake, it was truly so delicious. So, you brilliant baker, what might I have done wrong?
Thank you for your help and for this instant-favorite recipe!
Ah, I’m sorry it took longer to bake than expected! Honestly I think it might just come down to fruit being an unreliable thing. Perhaps your figs had more moisture, and that moisture caused the batter to need a little extra time? It always takes 30 minutes for me, but perhaps I should add a note to the recipe that it could take longer sometimes! A slightly puddingy cake texture (as long as it’s not stodgy or soggy) is totally right for an upside-down cake—definitely shouldn’t be light and fluffy, so it sounds like it turned out well after all, but I’m sorry the bake time was longer than expected!
Hi, I made it and it was soo good. But why was the brown sugar layer just leaking from the bottom of my pan in the oven? When I flipped it, the top was mushy and a weird texture, was that normal or should I have baked it more even though it seemed very done on the top?
Hello! So it’s definitely not supposed to be *mushy*, but the top (or you know, the bottom, which becomes the top once you flip it) should for sure be syrupy and soft, since it’s made of fruit and sugar.
I’m not totally sure what you mean by leaking from the bottom—were you using a springform pan? This recipe really needs just a regular pan that’s closed on the bottom. Or if yours was bubbling *over* the top, let me know and I’ll add a note to the recipe that folks might want to line their oven with foil or place a sheet pan underneath. It’s never happened to me while making this recipe, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen to others!
Hi! Yes I was using a springform pan.. maybe the brownsugar and butter layer was leaking from it. I’m going to try it again today tho bc it was still rlly gd.
Aah that must’ve made such a messs, that sucks! 😵💫
Yes totally a regular closed-bottom pan is ideal. That parchment round you place on the bottom ensures that it will release when you flip it over.
OMG this is such an amazing and easy recipe! Made this cake twice today as it was soo soo good. We finished the first one in no time.
I used plum as had no figs but 1kg plum from the garden. Added cinnamon and ground cardamom to it, they go really well with plum. I’m sure it’s just as good with pear and can’t wait to try it with figs. Thank you for this recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! Plum works so great here too. Plum upside down cake is actually the cake I photographed for the title page of the upside-down cake section in my book (A Dish for All Seasons). I give lots of specifics for substituting different fruits (there’s a whole upside-down cake seasonal produce chart!) and also include a bunch of different batters you can mix and match. Anyway all just to say that I love that you improvised!
I just made this and wow. I love figs and orange blossom so this was perfect. I also added orange zest to the sugar and butter mixture for the figs and also added a bit of ground cardamom. As it goes lovely with figs and orange blossom. I also added orangeest and some orange juice to the cake batter. It turned out so good.
Ooh that all sounds so awesome!! 😍 I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I haven’t tried it yet as my fig tree had a fungus and had to be destroyed. When the new one comes in good and begins to produce it’ll be top of my list. I wanted to thank you for your detailed instructions, simplified. And the slide button to keep ones phone from going dark whilst incorporating ingredients..fabulous idea!!!
Again, thank you for this beautiful fig cake recipe..I cannot wait to bake it…Ciao
Ah that’s such a shame about your tree! I’m glad you’ve got a new one, and hope it starts producing in no time!
And thank you, I didn’t even notice that update until now! I use the “tasty recipe” plugin, and just installed updates the other day, and it seems they automatically added that feature to the recipe card. Super useful, and will definitely keep that feature activated!
I have made this twice now – once exactly following the recipe and once with some tweaks.
My husband is Syrian-Lebanese and I always have orange blossom water in the house. It gave the first cake a lovely hint of that flowery flavor and was quite good!
The second time, I zested about half an orange and mixed that with the brown sugar/butter, then added the remaining zest and about 2 T of the juice into the batter, along with about a teaspoon of homemade vanilla extract (perfect bc I needed extra liquid since I used Greek yogurt). It was heavenly! The orange zest/juice gave it a lighter, summery flavor.
Since our fig tree runneth over (and I already have 14 half pint jars of preserves this year!), I am keeping this recipe on regular summer rotation! Both as-is and with tweaks, it is outstanding. Looking forward to trying more recipes from your blog.
Oh I love the changes you made to the recipe—that sounds absolutely wonderful! I sometimes resist adding orange zest to my orange blossom recipes on here, just because so many of my readers are trying orange blossom water for the very first time, and I really want them to experience the difference between the two flavors on their first try. But you guys are orange blossom pros, and zest and blossom water do go so wonderfully together. That sounds absolutely amazing, and I will definitely be trying it next time I make this one.
Love the combination of figs with orange blossom and yogurt. And the cake looks amazing!
Aw thank you so much! I hope you enjoy it if you try it 🙂