Fig & Almond Cake

So Mrs. Fig (that would be me), bought a huge bag of organic dried figs at Costco.
Why do I do this?
We are 2 people, and can not possible eat all those jumbo size items.

I have plenty of fig cakes in my repertoire, but browsing the New York Times recipes, I cam across David Tanis' recipe for fig and almond cake.

He uses fresh figs, but that's not happening anytime soon here in NJ, so I would try it with my dried figs.....and instead of grinding the almonds, I would use almond meal.

I added lemon zest to the batter, because why not, I like lemon zest.

This is a very simple cake to throw together for the late night baker. I forgot to add in the honey, which did not make a difference, since I upped the amount of sugar.....click on the link to the original recipe if you want to follow it, otherwise, just make the cake with my additions, it was so good.

It is moist and delicious, and the figs and almonds go so beautifully together. I can't wait to make this in the summer with fresh figs.

Fig & Almond Cake (adapted from The New York Times):

4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus butter for greasing pan
1 cup natural raw almonds (I used 1 cup of almond meal)
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
zest of a lemon
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
12 to 14 ripe or dried figs, cut in half

Heat oven to 350F degrees.

Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan or pie pan; set aside.

Put almonds and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor and grind to a coarse powder.
Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; pulse to combine.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, honey, the rest of the sugar (1/4 cup) and almond extract.
Add almond mixture from food processor and beat for a minute until batter is just mixed.

Pour batter into greased pan.

Remove stem from each fig and cut in half. Arrange fig halves cut-side up over the batter. Sprinkle figs with 2 tbsp sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden outside.

Delicious warm or at room temperature and great with ice cream :)

Enjoy!