Recently I realized that I had figs from last summer’s huge fig harvest in the freezer. Thank you me, for freezing those figs. I also recently purchased the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and have been enamored with the recipes. A recipe for blueberry cornmeal butter cake caught my eye. I decided to adapt that recipe, using figs and less butter. I really love the simple flavor of the cake, the cornmeal and lemon zest combine with the figs to create pure deliciousness that’s hard to stop eating.

Fig crumble cake, adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients – cake:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (1/2 stick)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cups thawed, chopped figs (or other fruit)

Ingredients – crumble topping:

• Reserved liquid from thawed figs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Process:

Butter and flour a cake pan, I used a 9″ round springform. (Edit: I’ve also found that a tube cake pan works well for making sure you get the middle cooked through) Whisk together the dry cake ingredients. Beat together the butter, sugar and applesauce until fluffy, which should take a few minutes. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest until thoroughly combined. Add a third of the flour mixture and all of the sour cream. Beat until blended. Add another third of the flour and beat until blended. Mix the remaining flour with the figs (or other fruit) and fold by hand into the batter until the flour mixture is combined into the batter.

Add the batter to the cake pan. Combine the crumble toppings and spread over the batter. Bake at 350 degrees until the top is brown and a toothpick comes out clean. The original recipe calls for 35 minutes, but for me it was more like 45 minutes.