Fig 'n' Date Cake

Fig and Date Cake

Hi there! Today it's my first recipe here on this site. Because I had at home a huge lot of dried figs and dates I decided to make something including all these dried fruits. I don't like them just like this - it's too dry and kinda sweet so I had to mix them up with some other ingredients and in the end it was a great cake. During the preparation itself  I noticed I didn't have the grated gingerbread. So went to the shop to buy it. Unfortunately they didn't have it. It was really upsetting 'cause the other nearest shop is really far far away. Finaly my helpful sister went there and bought it. So it was allright.

I'm not sure whether it's possible to buy a gingerbread for grating in your country. I think the situation is the same as with the butter spray here in Czechia. So if you're not able to buy it there you can substitute it with homemade old gingerbread - it should be quite tough 'cause thanks to the heavy cream in the cake it'll become pretty soft and chewy.

Now I think it's time to show you the recipe itself :)

You'll need for 1 cake (26cm pie form) :

Batter:

• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 125 ml milk
• 20 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Filling:

• 100 g hazelnuts or walnuts
• 100 g gingerbread for grating
• 5 dried figs
• 12 dried dates
• 50 g blanched almonds
• 50 g raisins swelled in hot water
• 100 g candied cherries
• 100 g softened unsalted butter
• 2 yolks
• 100 g caster sugar
• 125 ml heavy whipping cream (30 - 35% fat)

Directions:

1. To make the batter stir together butter and flour in a big bowl.
2. Add sugar and milk to the flour-butter mixture.
3. Mix the batter well using your own hands. Keep mixing until non-sticky and easy to work with.

4. Form the batter into a ball. Wrap it up with a foil and refrigerate for about an hour.

 
5. Now it's time to grate the gingerbread. It's tough work so you can use a blender or something :) When done set aside.
6. Now chop dried figs into squares, halve dates and candied cherries.
7. Don't forget to remove the pits from the dates!

8. Coarsely grind almonds. Then grind hazelnuts/walnuts - their texture should be almost powdery.
9. Beat together yolks, gently dissolved (but not warm) butter and sugar in a tall bowl until light and foamy. It should take up to 10 minutes (depends on the power of your beater).

10. Add heavy whipping cream to the egg mixture. It's better to add it in parts - not all in once. And beat it all once again for about 5 minutes until even more light and foamy.
11. Mix in the nuts, grated gingerbread and fruits and gently mix with wooden spoon. Don't beat again. Set aside.

12. Take the batter out of the fridge and spread it into the pie form. Make few holes into the batter using fork.
13. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C/347 F.
14. Spread the filling evenly all over the batter.

15. Put into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Then remove from oven and let cool completely.
Bon Appetite!

The Final Word:

The cake is really pretty good. Right after the baking it was a little bit on the sweet side but the other day it was just right. The cake itself is chewy and soft - not at all dry which is really delicious. Whole preparation takes about 2 hours but it's worth it! I'll definitely do it again :)
Rating: ****/*****