I recently made quite the birthday meal for my husband, making two of our favorite recipes, and trying out two new ones. I made Food & Wine’s Roasted beets with pistachios, herbs, and orange, Smitten Kitchen’s Swiss chard and sweet potato gratin and Mushroom Bourguinon and this Ginger fig cake, adapted from Kitchen Konfidence. I made the recipe healthier and also added figs and we loved it, so here it is for others to love!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups all purpose flour plus a bit less than 1/4 cup to toss with figs
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons finely minced fresh ginger
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 3/4 cup dark molasses (not backstrap)
• 4 large eggs
• 6 large figs, chopped, drained, and tossed with a bit less than 1/4 cup flour. I used thawed frozen figs so it’s especially important to get the excess liquid out.

For the topping:

• Salted Caramel Sauce – either bought or made from the Kitchen Konfidence recipe. I used some that we received as a gift from Sweet Ritual here in Austin
• Whip cream (highly recommended)

Instructions:

Prepare a cake pan with cooking spray or butter and flour. I used a springform and the cake just barely fit. I might consider a bundt pan next time to help the center cook faster. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift 2.5 cups flour, dry spices, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. In a mixer bowl, stir together 1/2 tablespoon water, fresh ginger, sugar, oil, applesauce, and molasses on slow until combined. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients while mixing on low. Once combined, increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Decrease speed to low and slowly add 3/4 cup hot water. Mix just until combined. Fold in by hand the figs tossed in flour until just combined. Pour into cake pan.

Bake at 350 for about an hour, or until the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean.

If you like beets, I highly recommend this beet salad. It’s delicious and has such a nice bright flavor. Oh, and it’s quite pretty when you get two or three different color beets!

The swiss chard and sweet potato gratin was a hit for the second time. We’re lucky that we’ve got a bunch of red and yellow chard out in the garden, giving us a good excuse to make this recipe. Both times I’ve halved the recipe, since it serves 12.

The Mushroom bourguignon was good, but it turns out that recipes that use red wine tend not to be my favorite. We also suspect that we should have used a variety of mushrooms instead of just criminis.

But really, the cake took the cake for the night. So glad I tried a new cake recipe! I still have a freezer full of figs…

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My related recipes

• Fresh fig bread
• Fig crumble cake
• Orange ginger cupcakes
• Fig muffins & cake