Fig and Almond Snacking Cake

If you know me (and/or follow me on Instagram), you might know that I am obsessed with figs. Obsessed. They have always been my favorite fruit, even when I was young. Growing up, we always had fig trees in our backyard. I would [not so] patiently wait for the 1-2 months that they were in season and then gorge myself on figs. I actually always just ate them by themselves – a couple with breakfast, as a snack, and dessert after dinner. I couldn’t get enough and still can’t. It’s tough having to buy them because I am so used to picking them by the bucketful obviously for free. When they are on sale or for a good price, I tend to go a little nuts and buy in bulk.

Case in point: I found figs for a good price at Trader Joe’s and bought a ton, despite the fact that we would be traveling for a couple weeks. How did I solve this problem? I stuffed my face with figs, topped my yogurt with them, put them on toast with peanut butter and honey, and then made this gorgeous snacking cake.

Normally, I give myself plenty of time to test out recipes before posting and try to schedule my blog posts in advance, but every now and then, there’s one I have to share ASAP. I went in warp speed with this recipe while figs are still in season. In one week (and in the few days I’ve been home between out of town trips), I’ve made this cake several times and finalized it earlier this week. The issue with figs, which I alluded to above, is how quickly their season passes. One minute you’re up to your eyes in figs and the next, you won’t see them for months. (Note: I’m lucky my mom makes the most divine fig jam from our homemade figs and ships them to me so I can enjoy them year-round).

Figs are a beautiful fruit – I grew up peeling them, but you can eat them with the skin on if it’s not too tough. They’re ripe when they’re very plump, tender, and soft (but not mushy and can hold their shape) and have slight tears/cracks. Figs picked too early are dry and hard and won’t continue to ripen, so make sure you pick the right ones or if you’re at the store, the right box. Growing up, we’d have to visit every fig tree daily to snatch the ripe ones before the birds did. They’d be plump, often with the nectar oozing out.

…Back to the cake. This cake is a triple almond cake – the base is primarily almond meal and it’s flavored with almond extract and topped with sliced almonds. If you love almonds and almond extract, you will love this. It’s free of refined sugars and is sweetened with only honey. It’s great as a breakfast cake or as a snack with tea and comes together in a matter of minutes. This cake only takes about 5 minutes to put together, then it’s straight into the oven for about 20ish minutes. While it’s baking you can enjoy the intoxicating sweet smell of almonds and honey. 

Fig and Almond Snacking Cake

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

This simple cake comes together in 5 minutes and is perfect with a cup of tea. It's dairy-free and sweetened with honey and free of refined sugars. It makes a great snack or breakfast!

Author: thyme & toast

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• ¾ cup almond meal
• ¼ cup white wheat (or white) flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• ⅓ cup honey
• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¾ teaspoon almond extract
• ¼ cup sliced almonds
• 4-5 figs, de-stemmed and sliced into quarters, length-wise

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and oil a 9-inch springform or cake pan.
2. Combine the almond meal, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, applesauce, and almond extract and beat for a minute or so, until frothy.
4. Add the almond meal mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Pour batter into the oiled pan. Evenly distribute the sliced almonds on top, then the sliced figs.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes, or until golden and the center is cooked (a toothpick comes out clean).
7. Once the cake has slightly cooled, slice and serve with an extra drizzle of honey, if desired. Store cake, covered, in the refrigerator.

Notes

If you want to remove the whole cake from the pan, a springform pan is your best bet. Otherwise, if you are fine with slicing it straight out of the cake pan, you can use a regular round pan.

This recipe is inspired by/loosely adapted from NY Times.

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