Upside Down Fig Cake

This Upside Down Fig Cake is made with fresh figs and a brown butter polenta cake batter for a stunning late summer dessert as delicious as it is beautiful.

Ingredients and substitutions for Upside Down Fig Cake

• Plain flour: Plain flour or all purpose is best because it helps give the cake it’s light texture and nice crumb. You also don’t want to overwork the batter so you don’t end up with a firm cake texture.
• Almond meal: Ground almonds might be what you refer to as what is called almond meal here. Finely ground almonds create a beautiful and soft texture to our cake.
• Polenta: Fine ground cornmeal polenta adds a slightly different texture to the cake alongside the almond meal. You could replace in equal measure with almond meal here, though this hasn't been attempted so the final result is not clear.
• Butter: Unsalted butter is used for the browned or caramelized butter. Salted butter works as a fine substitute, just leave out any salt suggested in the recipe. As is the case with browned butter, you will need 84 grams / 2.96 ounces to create 65 grams / 2.29 ounces brown butter with the loss of moisture.
  Room temperature butter creates a nice fluffy foundation for the cake. You could definitely substitute with non dairy butter.
• Sugar: As a result of using superfine or caster sugar, the nice fine granules dissolve into our cake and add sweetness without adding additional flavors to the cake.
• Eggs: The eggs add structure and bind everything together and are the core to our cake.
• Figs: Fresh Black Mission figs or Brown Turkey figs work particularly well, but any sweet, plump variety will taste delicious and are best here as dried would not add the same texture and would likely make the cake much sweeter. You could replace with plums, peaches, apricots or even pears.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to bake Upside Down Fig Cake:

Step 1: Lay em out: Lay the halved figs on top of the syrup in the base of your cake tin.

Step 2: Whip it: Beat the butter and sugar until combined.

Step 3: Yogurt and dry: Add the eggs and beat and then the Greek yogurt before tossing in the dry ingredients and whipping until combined.

Step 4: Batter up and bake: Spoon the cake batter on top of the figs, smoothing out.

Step 5: Invert: Baking until golden before inverting the cake onto a plate and set aside to cool fully.

Step 6: Serve: Slice and serve with a little whipped cream or spoonful of yogurt.

More Fall cakes you'll love

Dorset Apple Cake

French Pear Cake

Fig Cake

Upside Down Fig Cake

Sylvie Taylor

Plump sweet fresh figs sit atop an easy brown butter and polenta cake batter for a perfect late summer dessert or snack cake that is sure to impress.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 10

Calories 193 kcal

Ingredients

  

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Figs

• 14 grams / 1 tablespoon butter
• 21 grams / 1 tablespoon honey
• 6 fresh figs halved

Cake

• 65 grams / 2.3 ounces brown butter room temperature
• 125 grams / ? cup superfine/caster sugar
• 110 grams / 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 71 grams / ¼ cup Greek yogurt
• 50 grams / ½ cup almond flour
• 120 grams / ¾ cup plain flour
• 40 grams / ¼ cup polenta
• 4 grams / 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 grams / ½ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

 

Figs

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and line a 20 cm or 8 inch round cake tin with parchment paper.
• Smear the butter over the base of the tin and drizzle or spread the honey on top.
• Press the halved figs onto the base and set aside.

Cake

• Meanwhile, toss the butter and sugar into a bowl and whip until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
• Add 1 eggs and whip until well combined and fluffy, repeat with the remaining egg.
• Add in the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract and fold until well combined and smooth.
• Toss the almond flour, polenta, plain flour, baking soda and baking powder into the wet ingredients and whip on low until the batter is smooth.
• Pour over the figs and spread out evenly. Tap the tin to to remove bubbles from the batter and bake until golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean in the center, approximately 50 minutes.
• Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a plate.
• Allow to cool.
• Slice and serve with a spoonful of whipped cream or Greek yogurt.
• Dig in!

Notes

• Butter: Unsalted butter is used for the browned or caramelized butter. Salted butter works as a fine substitute, just leave out any salt suggested in the recipe. As is the case with browned butter, you will need 84 grams / 2.96 ounces to create 65 grams / 2.29 ounces brown butter with the loss of moisture. Room temperature butter creates a nice fluffy foundation for the cake.
• Almond meal: Ground almonds or almond flour might be what you refer to as what is called almond meal here. Finely ground almonds create a beautiful and soft texture to our cake.
• Polenta: Fine ground cornmeal polenta adds a slightly different texture to the cake alongside the almond meal. You could replace in equal measure with almond meal here, though this hasn't been attempted so the final result is not clear.
• Cake tin: A round spring form tin was used, however, a standard cake tin of similar size would also work well.
• Serving: This cake pairs beautifully with whipped cream, crème fraîche, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Though is also great as is.

Recipe by Roamingtaste

Nutrition

Calories: 193kcal

Keyword cake, fall dish, snack cake

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