The scrawny fig tree that Tom and I bought at Whole Foods a few years ago and planted in the backyard has grown large and it yielded a bumper crop of fruit this year. Unfortunately, I have almost nothing to show for it. Birds claimed almost all of the figs, greedily devouring them the instant they become ripe. I was able to grab a single fig every now and then and only once did I gather a critical mass of intact fruit that I could use to make a dessert. I decided to use them for a Fig and Almond Cake recipe from The New York Times.
This cake is quite simple. You whisk together eggs, melted butter, honey, and almond extract; and add in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and almonds that have been ground with sugar to a coarse powder. You pour the batter into a buttered pan (I used a 9-inch loose-bottomed cheesecake pan), and arrange slices of fig on top. You're supposed to use fig halves, but the Celeste figs from our tree are quite large and if I had used halves, they would have stuck up above the thin layer of cake batter.
Our figs have bright pink interiors and I liked the color scheme of the finished tart. This cake was very tasty. I was tempted to use almond flour instead of using grinding my own almonds and I'm glad I didn't. I left the almonds coarse as specified and I loved the rustic texture of the almond bits in every bite.
Since I love almonds, it's no surprise that I liked this cake. It was simple but flavorful, and almonds and figs are a harmonious pairing. It was a struggle to gather the fruit to make this cake, but once I had the figs, the cake produced wonderful results for very little effort.
Recipe: "Fig and Almond Cake" by David Tanis, from The New York Times.
Previous Posts:
This cake is quite simple. You whisk together eggs, melted butter, honey, and almond extract; and add in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and almonds that have been ground with sugar to a coarse powder. You pour the batter into a buttered pan (I used a 9-inch loose-bottomed cheesecake pan), and arrange slices of fig on top. You're supposed to use fig halves, but the Celeste figs from our tree are quite large and if I had used halves, they would have stuck up above the thin layer of cake batter.
Since I love almonds, it's no surprise that I liked this cake. It was simple but flavorful, and almonds and figs are a harmonious pairing. It was a struggle to gather the fruit to make this cake, but once I had the figs, the cake produced wonderful results for very little effort.
Recipe: "Fig and Almond Cake" by David Tanis, from The New York Times.
Previous Posts:
- "Final Figs of Fall, Part II: Jammy Fig Muffins," October 18, 2012.
- "Final Figs of Fall Part I: Rolled-Oat Cake with Figs," October 16, 2012.
- "Let's Just Call It a Fig Bar: Fig Bars with Thyme," August 28, 2012.
- "A Honey of a Sweet Sauce: A Fig Cake for Fall," August 24, 2012.
- "The Not-So-Figgy Fig Tart: Fig Frangipane Tart," August 21, 2012.
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