Honey and Fig Cake

I bought a small carton of figs a week ago and they needed to be utilized. I'm quite surprised the fruits are still fresh. I made a twist with my "Spiced Apple Cake" recipe and baked this "Honey and Fig Cake".

This is a very simple cake, good for a tea cake or an after-dinner dessert. It's has the richness and aroma of a butter cake, but not heavy when baked with figs. The baked fruit wedges contributes extra moisture to the crumbs. I have reduced the amount of sugar in the butter mixture as I replaced the maple syrup with honey, but I wanted to enrich the flavor of the cake and I decided to make a salted caramel sauce as a condiment.

I baked the cake with a two-piece round cake pan 8” in diameter.

Ingredients

(A) 4 big figs, cut into wedges

(B) Butter Mixture

• 113g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 50g raw caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

(C) Dry Ingredients

• 120g cake flour
• 45g fine almond meal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• Zest of 1 lemon

(D) Moist Ingredients

• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp dark rum
• 60g honey
• 3 whole eggs

(E) Condiment and garnish - Optional

• Dust with icing sugar
• Salted caramel sauce

Method

1. Grease and line the two-piece round pan with parchment paper.
   
2. Preheat the convection oven to 170℃. 
3. Rinse and pat dry the figs with kitchen towel. Cut the figs into wedges. Set aside.
4. Beat the butter in the stand-mixer with paddle attachment on medium-low until smooth. Add sugar and beat on medium-high until pale, light and fluffy. Add the vanilla paste and beat until mixed.
5. Mix and sift the dry ingredients together. 
6. Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture on low until moistened.
7. Add one egg with lemon juice and dark rum, beat on high for 20 seconds. 
8. Add the second egg with half the honey, beat on high for 20 seconds, repeat with the last egg and remaining honey. Scrape down whenever necessary.
9. Pour the batter into the lined pan, spread evenly. Place the figs onto the batter. 
   
10. Put the pan into the oven on the lower rack and bake for 40-45 minutes or until done. Check with your cake tester or skewer, if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
11. Take out the pan, remove the ring and allow the cake to cool on the base of the pan.
    
12. To garnish the cake, sprinkle icing sugar on the cake. Drizzle with salted caramel sauce to serve.

Spiced Apple Cake

Read a lot about German Apple Cakes on the internet. It's a simple recipe and good for a tea cake, but I'm not quite satisfied with the recipes I found and want to write my own recipe with a twist and baked this "Spiced Apple Cake".

There are a lot of different kinds of apples available in supermarkets, I used modi and granny smith from Australia.

You need a round spring-from pan 9" in diameter.

Ingredients
(A) Apples

• 2 small red apples (Can be gala, queen, envy or pink lady, I used modi)
• 2 small or 1 medium granny smith 
• 1.5 tsp lemon juice

(B) Butter Mixture

• 113g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 70g raw caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

(C) Dry Ingredients

• 120g cake flour
• 45g fine almond meal
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• Zest of 1 lemon

(D) Moist Ingredients

• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp dark rum
• 60g maple syrup
• 3 whole eggs

(E) Garnish - Optional

• Apricot gel 
• Icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Grease and line the spring-form pan with parchment paper.
   
2. Preheat the convection oven to 170℃. 
3. Peel, quarter and core the apple. Make cuts verically on the outside without cutting through. Toss the apple wedges with lemon juice in a bowl to avoid rusting. Set aside.
4. Beat the butter in the stand-mixer with paddle attachment on medium-low until smooth. Add sugar and beat on medium-high until pale, light and fluffy. Add the vanilla paste and beat until mixed.
5. Mix and sift the dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients in 2 batches into the butter mixture on low until moistened.
6. Add one egg with lemon juice and dark rum, beat on high for 20 seconds. Add the second egg with half the maple syrup, beat on high for 20 seconds, repeat with the last egg and remaining maple syrup. Scrape down whenever necessary.
7. Pour the batter into the lined pan, spread evenly. Put the apple wedges core-side down, try to snug all apple wedges onto the batter, they shall shrink in size after baking.
   
8. Put the pan into the oven on the lower rack and bake for 40-45 minutes or until done. Check with your cake tester or skewer, if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
9. Take out the pan, remove the ring and allow the cake to cool on the base of the spring-form pan.
10. To garnish the cake, brush apricot gel on the apple wedges and sprinkle icing sugar for dusting on the cake. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of the finest vanilla ice-cream or just have it alone with a nice cup of coffee.