Sunday, September 15, 2013

Fig Upside Down Cake









Yes, I know my last post was a cake and here I am back again so soon with another cake. Well, truth be told, I do have a weakness for cake. But more importantly, with figs in season for such a short time more, I figured you needed this cake recipe. Besides, swimsuit season is over -- go for broke. (OK, I can hear all you folks in the Southern hemisphere right now as you squeeze into your Speedos - Just eat a smaller piece, alright? Life is too short.) 


The figs in the cake were from my friend Ellie's fig tree. I wish I could say they were from my yard. But the fig below is, in fact, from my very own fig tree. It's the only ripe fruit I've harvested from it this year -- and it's a biggie. With any luck, the other figs will ripen before the frost hits. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.




I used a cast iron skillet to make this cake. If you don't own one, you should. They transmit heat so uniformly and they're such versatile pans, you can cook anything from omelets to cakes in them. Plus they last forever. This one is 42 years old. Yikes, that sentence just gave me the willies. I have pans older than most of my readers? Oh well, at least I'm still here to write about it. moving on.....


 Melt the brown sugar and butter and place the figs cut side down.




 Mix the batter (it will be thick) and place it carefully over the figs.




 Bake at 350 degrees and flip it immediately (and carefully) onto a large plate. This cake is best enjoyed when warm, so gather some friends around and dig in. 




For another great version of a fig upside-down cake, check out Greg's blog post on SippitySup here.





Upside Down Fig Cake








8 T. butter


1/2 cup sugar + 2 T.


2 eggs


2 cups all-purpose flour


3 t. baking powder


1/2 t. salt


1/4 t. ground cinnamon


a few gratings of nutmeg


1/2 cup milk





For the top part (it will become the top when flipped)


4 T. butter


1/2 cup brown sugar


figs, cut in half (the amount depends on how large they are - I needed about 1 1/2 dozen for this one)





In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt the butter and brown sugar. Arrange the fig halves over the sugar and butter, cut side down. 


For the cake batter, beat the butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs. Sift dry ingredients together. Beat half of dry ingredients into creamed mixture and beat in half of milk. Repeat, beating well. Batter will be thick.


Pour into the pan over the fig/brown sugar/butter mixture. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes. Serve warm if possible.



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13 comments:

  1. Beautiful and extremely tempting! A deliciously autumnal cake.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. Deliziosa la tua torta di fichi, complimenti cara. buon inizio di settimana Daniela.

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  3. What a beauty that cake is,your're right, life is too short so dig in! You know I'd help you eat it if I lived closer. Stacey might be knocking at your door any minute when she sees this!

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  4. Beautiful! I love fresh figs and I love playing with them in recipes. I need to find some people to share this with because swimsuit season may be over, but I'm still trying to slim down for next summer, so I can't be in a position to eat this all myself - because I will!

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  5. I was about to say, hey I just made one of these myslf. But I see you knew that already. Yours is gorgeous. GREG

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  6. OK. 8 tablespoons of butter and 10 of sugar. You've got me. This looks great. I hear you about the cast iron skillet; they cook so well and so evenly. And now you've got me thinking, I too have pots older than my readers. Uh oh.

    Everyone's got so many figs - you, Greg, Domenica. I am feeling seriously deprived here. Bart and I plan to plant a fig tree, but I do not know if i can wait that long. This cake looks too good...

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  7. che splendida torta, รจ perfetta per far bella figura !Un abbraccio !














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  8. Linda, you are youthful and beautiful - who cares how old your pans are?! This cake looks divine. My uncle just sent over a basket of figs and now I know just what to do with them!

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  9. Now this is a cake my husband would go crazy over, LInda! He adores figs and misses the fig tree we had in Brooklyn. We purchased figs in Costco this season, and while they were good, they weren't as good as right off one's own tree. I think they would have tasted good in this recipe, so I'll save this on my Pinterest for when we find figs again.

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  10. I can't believe the size of your one fig, hopefully the rest of your crop ripens so that you can make another delicious cake like the one your posted. It sounds wonderful.

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  11. 4I'm hoping to find figs at the farmers' market tomorrow. We had a tree on our farm when I was growing up and we could pick them warm and ripe whenever we needed a snack. Beautiful cake, Linda.

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  12. 4I'm hoping to find figs at the farmers' market tomorrow. We had a tree on our farm when I was growing up and we could pick them warm and ripe whenever we needed a snack. Beautiful cake, Linda.

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