Fig and Apple Cake

Are you familiar with figs? I have heard of them but never actually seen one myself. They are my latest discovery. Dried figs, not the fresh ones. They look all wrinkled and whitish and could be mistaken for 'asam boi' at a glance.

I was quite hesitant to try but upon biting into one, ooohhh.... it was so nice! Sweet and chewy and I popped one after another into my mouth. But I had to stop because I was given just a handful and baking with them came to mind.

That was when I searched for a recipe. There are many but I settled on this Apple and Fig Cake because it so happened that I have four apples in the fridge. 

Because I was using dried figs, I boiled them briefly in orange juice just to add moisture. This step may not be necessary but I was just being a fussy old pot.

From previous experience, I knew that this cake would be good due to the apples. The figs were a nice sweet and chewy addition. This cake is dense and very moist. The sweetness was just nice for me. 

It was so moist that my partner complained that it was soggy. It was not soggy to me, just extra moist. Perhaps I had added one apple too many. But I loved it that way.

Oh, here's how the fig looks like when I cut into one.

It's too bad that I couldn't get these type of figs (they are Spanish) when I went looking for them at Cold Storage. There was another variety but it did not look anything like the ones here. By the way, I baked this cake last Christmas. I saved half in the freezer and had some for the last few days. It was still good except that the apples turned mushy. 

Fig and Apple Cake
Recipe source : Adapted from Belleau Kitchen

- 3 eggs
- 140g brown sugar (you many need to add more if you have a sweet tooth)
- 250g butter
- 250g self-raising flour, sifted
- 4 green apples, peeled and shredded
- 100g dried figs, chopped into small pieces
- juice from 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Method :
1. In a saucepan, place chopped figs and orange juice and bring to a boil for about 2 minutes, stirring to prevent burning. Remove from flame and set aside to cool. (I did this to rehydrate the dried figs)
2. Add cinnamon powder to the brown sugar.
3. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
5. Using a spatula, fold in flour in 4 additions until just combined.
6. Fold in grated apples.
7. Then fold in figs.
8. Pour batter into a lined and greased loaf pan and bake at 160C for 55 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of the cake comes out clean.

Note for my own reference : I tented the cake after 40 minutes and my cake was done after 55 minutes.