A Fig Cake for Fall

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was picked by Ursula of Cookie Rookie. She chose A Fig Cake for Fall. This cake is a cornmeal/honey cake topped with honey and port poached figs. You can get the complete recipe on Ursula’s blog and you can also check out how all of the other bloggers handled this week’s recipe by visiting the Tuesdays with Dorie site. I don’t think that everyone could find figs this week, so there will probably be a lot of variations.

Ok, I have to admit, I was apprehensive about this one because I’ve never worked with fresh figs. Could I even find them at the store? I did find them at the store, in fact, I found two types: some green ones and some black ones. I’m sure they have specific names but I don’t know what they are! So this cake used two types of fresh figs. I had bought mine when I first saw them and didn’t make the cake for a bit and mine were VERY ripe when I finally made the cake.

You poach the figs in honey and port, which just smelled amazing. We love port in our household, so I knew that would be good. I love that the cake has the cornmeal balanced with the sweetness of honey. I thought this would take a long time, but it didn’t. Any when it came out of the oven it looked exactly like the photo in the book. How exciting! So while I was initially a bit afraid of this recipe, it turned out really well and I have to say that I have conquered my fear of figs!

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 198