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Fig cake (super easy showstopper)

fig cake
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4.8 from 4 reviews

Ingredients

For the fig and brown sugar bottom:

  • Butter for greasing the pan
  • 4 Tbsp [57g] melted butter
  • 1/2 cup [100g] packed 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

  1. To prep the fig and brown sugar bottom: Butter one 8-inch round cake pan. Cover the bottom with a parchment round.
  2. 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.
  3. Slice the figs in half. Arrange the figs cut-side-down over the buttery brown sugar.
  4. To bake the cake: Preheat the oven to 350° F convection (177° C).
  5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
  6. 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.
  7. 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!
  8. 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.
  9. 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.

Note on the pan size: This recipe has never overflowed during testing and it should not overflow on you if you use a standard 8 inch pan. But if yours does overflow, something has gone wrong with your ingredient ratios, oven temperature, or pan depth. If you’re making this for the first time and worried it might overflow, you can place a baking sheet on the rack one level down from the rack you’re baking on.

Find it online: https://cardamomandtea.com/375/orange-blossom-fig-cake/