Fig cake

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PRESENTATION

Sugary, luscious figs are a delightful accompaniment to summer days. Fresh from our triumph with delicious, melt-in-the-mouth shortbread cookies, today we invite you to try your hand at making a beautiful cake that is as bronzed as your suntan at the end of the summer holidays: This fig cake is the best way to bid the summer adieu. This dessert is super-easy to prepare and, above all, delicious to eat. Let yourself be seduced by the soft, fragrant texture of this cake, which forms a perfect bed for firm-fleshed figs. Don’t neglect to embellish them with sliced almonds and brown sugar, which will give these fruits a gorgeous golden color. This fig cake is a great snack or dessert and a perfect accompaniment as you browse pictures and postcards from summers past: Are you ready to enjoy it with your friends as you think back to your holidays and start to dream of your next trip?

INGREDIENTS

Ingredients for a 9-inch (22-cm) cake pan
Figs 0.66 lb (300 g)
Flour 00 1 ⅓ cup (150 g)
Almond flour ½ cup (50 g)
Butter ½ cup (100 g) - (at room temperature)
Whole milk 3 tbsp (45 g)
Eggs 2 - medium
Lemon peel 1
Sugar ½ cup (100 g)
Fine salt 1 pinch
Baking powder 1 tbsp (10 g)
For the decoration
Almond flakes to taste
Brown sugar to taste
For greasing and flouring the cake pan
Butter to taste
Flour 00 to taste
Preparation

How to prepare Fig cake

To prepare the fig cake, start with the batter: Cut the butter (at room temperature) into chunks and place in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar 1 and run at medium-low speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat the eggs with a fork in a bowl and then gradually add them to the mixture 2 until they are well blended. Then add a pinch of salt and, while the mixer is running, the grated lemon zest 3.

With the mixer still running, sift the cake flour, almond flour 4, and baking powder 5 into a separate bowl and add this to the mixer bowl one spoonful at a time 6.

When the powdered ingredients are well blended, add the milk at room temperature 7. Continue blending this batter until the milk is absorbed. Now pour the batter into a buttered and floured 9-inch (22-cm) springform cake pan 8. Using a spatula, spread and level the mixture evenly in the pan 9.

Now move onto the figs: Peel them 10, then cut them into slices that are fairly thin 11. Go back to the cake pan and start arranging the fig slices in a circle; start at one point 12

and keep adding the other figs until you’ve covered the entire surface, beginning at the outside and working your way in toward the center 13. Garnish the surface with the sliced almonds 14 and sprinkle with brown sugar 15.

Once you’ve finished topping the cake 16, bake in a conventional oven preheated to 340°F (170°C) for 40-45 minutes. As the cake bakes, the raw sugar will add an amber sheen to the surface. If you find it too dark after the first half hour of baking, cover with foil for the rest of the baking time. Once baked, do the toothpick test: Pierce the cake with a toothpick, and if it comes out dry and clean, this means that the cake is ready 17. Once you’ve taken it out of the oven, leave it to cool and then remove it from the pan 18. Your cake is ready to be enjoyed!

Storage

This fig cake will keep for a day under a glass cake dome at room temperature. It can be frozen once completely cooled.

Tips

You can make your fig cake even more extravagant and delicious by serving it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.