Fig and Honey Cake
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Satisfy your sweet tooth with this delicious fig and honey cake with pecans! This easy-to-make recipe is sure to be a crowd favorite. Sweet honey and juicy figs come together perfectly with crunchy pecans to create a cake that is both pretty and flavorful.
I really like figs. However, they are seriously hard to come by in my area. I can get dried figs, fig jam, and other fig products but I rarely find fresh figs in my market.
Last week when I was shopping for strawberries I happen to see a clam shell container that caught my eye. I hurried over to it and sure enough my market had several containers of fresh figs!
I quickly grabbed two and tossed them into my cart. I had no idea what I was going to make with them but they are such a rare find that I knew I had to get them.
When I got home I began looking for recipes and came across one for Honey and Fig Cake with Hazelnuts. I’m not the biggest hazelnut fan but I sure do like pecans and decided to make a pecan and fig cake.
Ingredients:
- all purpose flour
- pecan meal or flour (see below for how to make your own)
- chai spice blend (see below for how to make your own)
- baking powder
- salt (I prefer to use sea salt for this recipe)
- butter (I use salted then halve the salt in the recipe but you can use unsalted)
- vegetable oil (you can also use melted coconut oil or canola oil)
- brown sugar (I prefer light brown sugar but you can use dark)
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- strong brewed coffee (make sure this has cooled before using)
- milk (I used whole milk but 2% can be used as well)
- dried figs (I prefer getting them in a pouch because they stay softer)
- fresh figs
The base of this cake is a spice cake. It uses a chai spice mixture in order to make this a nice, warm cake.
In addition to regular flour I added in pecan flour to give the base of the cake a nice, nutty flavor. If you don’t have pecan flour or pecan meal see below to find out how you can make it at home1
There are also figs in the cake. I used dried figs that I chopped up but you can also use fresh figs in the cake if you’d like. It’s your choice.
What do figs taste like?
Figs are sweet with a soft interior. The interior is almost jellylike and you can feel the seeds as you eat them. They have a honey and fruit flavor.
How do you make the chai spice mix?
Chai spice is simply a spice blend used in a lot of drinks. If you don’t have it laying around the house (and who does?) you can make it at home. Simply combine 2 teaspoons cardamom, 2 teaspoons allspice, 2 teaspoons nutmeg, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, 3 teaspoons ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cloves and mix well. Take what you need for this recipe and store the rest in an air tight container to use later.
How do I make pecan meal?
To make pecan meal or pecan flour take 1 1/2 cups of raw pecans and put them in a food processor. Use the pulse function to pulse them into a meal. Scrape the sides and repeat a few times. You want your meal to be fine with an even texture. However, do not process the nuts on high for a period of time as your pecans will begin to turn into pecan butter.
How do I store this cake?
Store this cake in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Do not decorate the top of the cake with the honey and figs until ready to serve as figs go bad quickly.
Once everything is combined it goes into a pan and gets baked. I chose to make mine in a 9 inch cake pan but you can also bake it in two 8 inch pans and make a double layer cake if you prefer.
As the cake is cooling you’ll need to mix the frosting. This is a light honey cream cheese frosting. It’s made of cream cheese, butter, honey, and powdered sugar.
The frosting only goes on top of the cake so you won’t need to make a lot of it. It is right and creamy with hints of honey that pair so well with the spicy base of the fig cake.
More Fig Recipes:
- Fig and Almond Tea Cake
- Fig and Orange Crumble Bar
- Gourmet Pita Pizza with Figs and Prosciutto
- Homemade Granola with Figs
- Fig Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
I loved this cake. The cake itself has a lot of spices in it, has a faint nuttiness, and isn’t too sweet. The chopped figs give it hints of fruitiness and sweetness throughout.
The frosting is creamy and sweet with hints of honey in it. It pairs so well with the spiced cake. I put some fresh figs and pecans halves on top then drizzled it with more honey.
Not only does this cake taste amazing but it looks gorgeous too and you don’t need any decorating skills!
If you’ve tried my Fig and Honey Cake or any other recipe on Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks please take a minute to rate the recipe and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. I love hearing from you! You can FOLLOW ME on:
Fig and Honey Cake
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 c. pecan meal
- 3 teaspoons chai spice blend
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 c. 1 stick salted butter
- 1/4 c. vegetable oil
- 1 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 c. milk
- 1/3 c. strong brewed coffee
- 1 c. dried figs chopped
For the Frosting:
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter softened
- 4 Tablespoons cream cheese softened
- 3 Tablespoons honey
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 4-6 fresh figs quartered
- 1/4 c. pecan halves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch cake pan with baking spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, pecan meal, baking powder, chai spice, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl cream together the oil and butter.
- Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix until smooth.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix for at least 1 minute or until batter is smooth.
- Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix well. Add in the coffee and mix until combined. Add half of the remaining dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add the milk and stir until smooth. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the dried figs.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes. When the top is golden and the cake is pulling away from the edges put a toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean it is baked.
- Remove the cake from the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and remove the cake to a wire cool rack to cool completely.
- To make the frosting place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and mix with a mixer on medium high speed until the mixture is smooth.
- Add in the vanilla and honey and mix on medium high speed for 1 minute.
- Add the powdered sugar a half cup at a time, mixing after each addition, until frosting is smooth. If the frosting is too thick mix in a bit of milk.
- To assemble the cake place on a cake round. Spread the top with frosting leaving the sides naked. Drizzle with a bit of honey and top with the quartered fresh figs and pecan halves.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
