Fig Cake – Fig and Honey Snack Cake

This Fig Cake is not a sponsored post. I was sent some fresh figs by my friends at the California Fig Advisory Board, but they have not paid me to develop this recipe or mention them. I just plain love their product.

Do yourself a favour and hurry to make this beautiful, tender, buttery Fig Cake while figs are in season!

I am a fig-a-holic. When fresh figs are in season, I ignore my grocery budget so that I can enjoy their brief and glorious presence in our local grocery stores.

I’m well aware that figs aren’t a New York crop, but -oh my goodness- they are so very special. Many of the figs that enter our house meet their demise in the form of as many batches of the Vanilla Fig Preserves from Not Your Mama’s Canning Book as I can possibly justify.

There is just one other thing that I feel 100% obligated to do with fresh figs before my husband and I eat all of the others out of hand and it is one of the most simple and decadent desserts I make; Fig and Honey Snack Cake.

The base of Fig Cake is a simple vanilla butter cake. This is not a fussy cake, you whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl, you whisk the wet ingredients together in another bowl, then you stir them together before spreading in a generously buttered half sheet pan.

You don’t even have to crack an egg for this one, as it is egg-free. This is handy since my hens appear to be on egg-laying vacation to celebrate the transition to cool fall days.

The fresh figs are sliced and arranged over the top of the cake batter. Half an hour into the baking, the cake is drizzled lightly with honey and baked for ten minutes longer.

After the cake cools, squares are served with another generous drizzle of mild honey. There you have it; Fig and Honey Snack Cake in all its simple glory, celebrating the all-too-short magic that is fig season.

What kind of sheet pan do I use for fig cake?

This cake is designed to be made in a half-sheet pan. If you don’t have one, you can buy one on Amazon.com or from most big-box stores (Walmart, Target, K-mart, etc…) or restaurant supply stores.

Fresh figs are the only way to go on this cake. The dried figs, while delicious for snacking, simply won’t impart the same texture or moisture to this Fig and Honey Snack Cake.

What type of figs do I use for fig cake?

You can use whichever fresh figs you find most easily. I used Brown Turkey and Sierra figs on here because they were sent to me by those wonderful friends of mine at the California Fig Advisory Board.

Please do not substitute dried figs. They’re delicious, but will not be the same in this cake.

Fresh figs are very delicate and perishable, so use them up quickly when you find them. They’re a marvel, if you’ve never had one; tender, and sweet like candy.

When I say to butter the pan generously, I mean it. Slather the butter onto the pan and make sure you get the corners and sides well coated before you add the cake batter to the pan.

The top of the cake batter doesn’t need to be perfectly evened, but should be distributed fairly equally through the pan before you arrange your fig slices on top of the cake.

Do not overlap the figs as you want the cake to puff up in between the fig slices. Too many figs will overwhelm this cake and make it far too moist. Less is more here.

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Fig Cake

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Rebecca Lindamood

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This tender, buttery Fig and Honey Snack Cake is the perfect sweet end for a meal or day.

Ingredients

  

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• 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 pound 1 ounce by weight
• 2 cups granulated sugar raw or white
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 cups milk Whole milk or almond or soy milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter or extra virgin coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• additional butter or extra virgin coconut oil for the pan
• 6 to 8 fresh figs sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
• 1/4 cup mild honey plus extra honey to serve

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Generously butter a half sheet pan, taking care to get the corners and seams very well greased. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, use a whisk to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Switch to a silicone spatula, add the wet ingredients, and combine just until no more dry pockets remain and the mixture is even if not smooth. Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth to even it out. Arrange the slices of figs evenly over the surface of the batter. Bake for 23 minutes.
• Remove the cake from the oven and drizzle the honey evenly over the cake. Return the pan to the oven and bake an additional 8 minutes, or until the honey has absorbed and the cake is golden brown and a toothpick or skewer inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a heat proof surface for at least 30 minutes before slicing into squares. Serve the squares drizzled with additional honey.
• Store leftovers tightly wrapped at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 259kcalCarbohydrates: 52gProtein: 4gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 272mgPotassium: 196mgFiber: 1gSugar: 30gVitamin A: 68IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 79mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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