FIG WALNUT CAKE

365 – Fig Walnut Cake / كيكة التين واللوز

cookingwithalia.com/fig-walnut-cake-recipe/

12/30/2015

Ingredients

• 10 large dried figs
• 1 tea bag (black tea or other)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup (136 grams) all-purpose white flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2/3 cup (150 grams) butter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup (110 grams) brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)

Directions

Step 1 – Preparing the Ingredients: 
1- First let’s bring some moister to the dried figs.  Make some black tea, or any type of tea, with a tea bag and hot water. Wait for 2 minutes to let the tea steep then remove and discard the tea bag.
2- Now, place the dried figs cut in half, in the tea, and let them sit there, absorb all the moisture, while you are preparing the rest of the cake.
3- Chop some walnuts… they are best friends with figs, and taste wonderful together!

Step 2 – Mixing the Ingredients: 
1- Let’s mix the dry ingredients! In a large bowl, add the all-purpose white flour, baking powder, pinch of salt, and spices: we have ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and a little bit of ground nutmeg. Mix well using a whisk.
2- Now let’s mix the wet ingredients. In another large bowl, place the softened butter and the white sugar. Mix for 2 minutes with an eggbeater. Add the brown sugar, mix. Add one egg. Mix. A little bit of the dry ingredient mixture. Mix. The vanilla extract. Mix. Then again, one egg, mix, dry ingredients, mix, then the last egg, and mix.
3- At this point, add all the rest of the dry ingredient mixture and incorporate well using a spatula.
4- Add the chopped walnuts and mix in… look at this smooth bather, we are almost done!

Step 3 – Final Steps: 
1- Time to check on the figs… here they are all happy and moist in the tea. Drain them from the tea and cut them into small pieces. Add the fig pieces to the batter and mix in.
2- Let’s prepare the baking pan. First butter the pan, then place the parchment paper, then butter the paper.
3- Pour the cake batter into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in a pre-heated oven to 360 F / 180 C for 45 minutes or until done.
4- To check if the cake is ready: gently touch the center of the cake, it should feel firm but still springy (not hard). Place a plate on top of the cake, flip the baking pan, gently remove the parchment paper from the top of the cake and… voila!!!
5- Let the cake cool down, then decorate with powdered sugar… I am using this cool stencil to make my cake pretty!