Tag Archives: figs

Rustic fig and hazelnut cake

Posted on April 23, 2013 | 4 Comments

Figs seem terribly decadent to me. It must be all those luscious red filaments when you cut one open, eating the soft sweet inner flesh directly off the skin. Such a short season for this heady delight that nature has created with such perfection.

fig cut in half

Growing up I remember the fig tree in the backyard of the family home. My father would put nets over the branches with figs that were ripening to protect them from the birds. My family would devour them, as soon as they were ripe. And I used to wonder what all the fuss was about as I only started eating figs a few years ago. I think my family were secretly happy I didn’t like them, as they got to eat them all! A few weeks back I was driving around a suburb that has a lot of older Greek and Italian families and saw a terrific wooden cage with walls made of netting in the front garden of a house. Inside the cage was a fig tree, well protected from birds and other wildlife. Clearly figs were prized possessions for this family, who I suspect must have been either Italian or Greek. Such passion for their figs!

whole fig cake on black background

I posted this recipe over a year ago, not long after I had started this blog. I made the cake again last week, after buying a tub of beautiful figs from the Victoria Market. I had forgotten how wonderful this rustic cake is so I decided I would repost the recipe. The cake does not have many steps and apart from beating the butter, sugar and eggs with an electric mixer, it is mixed by hand. So it is hard to get wrong. Fresh figs are arranged in a pattern on top of the uncooked cake making the cake look festive. By pushing the figs down a little with your finger, the cake cooks around them and they keep the cake really moist. You can splash a bit of brandy on top of the cake once it is cooked (for that real Italian flavour!).

fig cake on plate

Fig and hazelnut cake*
140g plain flour
125g butter, at room temperature
160g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of baking powder
60ml milk (optional – replace 20 ml of the milk with 20ml brandy)
125g hazelnuts, ground
6 fresh figs, halved

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a 20cm diameter cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar in a food processor until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Place the mixture in a bowl and add half the flour, mixing well with a wooden spoon. Add the milk (or milk and brandy!). Mix until incorporated, then add the rest of the flour and the baking powder. Make sure it is all evenly mixed and finally incorporate the hazelnuts.

fig cake ready to cook

Place the mixture in the prepared cake tin. Press the fig halves a few centimetres into the cake to any pattern you like, cut surface of the fig side up. As the cake rises in the oven, the figs will sink a bit into the cake, so don’t push them all the way down. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer placed in the centre comes out clean. Rest for 15 minutes before turning put of the tin. Serve the cake with a dollop of mascarpone, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. You can also splash some brandy on the cake if you did not put it in while you were cooking (or omit brandy altogether).

*adapted from Bill Grainger

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Panforte – sticky, sweet, peppery and perfect

Posted on October 7, 2012 | 6 Comments

Panforte literally means “strong bread”. But it is nothing like bread. More like an English Christmas cake – but with less cake, more spices and sticky sweet honey. It originated in central Italy, where “panforte di Siena” is typically found. Tradition has it that in Siena, panforte has 17 ingredients, representing the 17 contrade (or districts within the city). The ingredients however are a closely guarded secret, each baker having their own secret combination of spices. Siena, in case you have never been, is a beautiful medieval city in Tuscany ~ well worth a visit.



What is great about panforte is that it keeps for weeks, if not months. It is said that during the Crusades, panforte was taken to war because it would keep so long. When I make a batch, I keep it in the fridge in foil and keep it there for when guests arrive. That said, I love eating it for breakfast with a cup of strong coffee, so it actually does not last that long in my house ~ maybe a week at most.

There are a lot of panforte recipes using different dried fruits, spices and even with chocolate. I have been experimenting with a few and ended up making my own variation. I found some fantastic candied (glace’) whole figs at the Enoteca Sileno last week, as well as some candied orange and clementine paste. If you can’t find the same ingredients, you could use an orange paste from a delicatessen or other citrus peel. However I would highly recommend using the candied figs, which I have seen in delicatessens, and not substituting them with all dried figs. The candied figs given the panforte a lovely texture and more candied taste.

Panforte is also spicy. My recipe has ginger, black pepper, cardamom and cinnamon amongst other spices and a good dose of cocoa powder. The pepper gives it a sweet hot and chocolatey aftertaste, which I love. Traditional medieval panforte was covered in black pepper but since the 1800s, it is generally covered in more delicate icing sugar. A thick layer of snowy icing sugar is a lovely contrast to the dark panforte.

Panforte
1 cup almonds, blanched then roasted
1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted and skin removed
1/2 cup candied figs, roughly chopped
1/4 cup glacé ginger, chopped
3 tablespoons candied orange peel, finely chopped (or orange paste, or chopped glacé oranges)
1/4 cup prunes, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup dried figs, chopped into small pieces
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
150g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, powdered
1/2 teaspoon cardamom, powdered
1 teaspoon ginger, powdered
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon (heaped if you like pepper) black pepper, ground
150g honey
150g sugar
Rice paper to line your baking tin
Butter for greasing the baking tin
Candy thermometer
22 cm cake tin with a removable base

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Butter the tin and place rice paper on the base (cut to fit the circle) and baking paper on the sides. Roughly chop the nuts then place in a large bowl with the orange peel, candied figs, dried figs, prunes, cocoa powder, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, pepper, cardamom and flour. Mix until well combined.

Prepare a spatula and spoon by covering them in oil before doing the next step. Heat the honey and sugar on medium heat in a small saucepan, stirring until the temperature reaches 115 degrees on the candy thermometer. Working quickly, pour the molten sugars into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix with the spoon. The mixture will be quite dry to start with but after a few minutes as the molten sugars disperse, it become very thick and wet with the sugars. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and pat down with the oiled spatula so that the surface is flat.

Bake for 30 minutes at 150 degrees. The center might still be a bit soft when you take it out, but it will harden as it cools. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool about 10 minutes. Remove the sides of the tin and dust thickly with icing sugar. Allow to cool completely before serving. Cut into thin wedges to serve with coffee or a good port or muscat.

You might like to imagine that you are looking out over the hills in Tuscany as you bite into the peppery, sweet panforte.

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Spicy fig pies

Posted on August 19, 2012 | 3 Comments

It feels like it is a really long winter in Melbourne – like it used to be years ago – cold, wet and perfect weather to stay indoors. Staying indoors for me means baking – beautiful, rich and fruity pies that you can eat with cream that warm you up rather than just filling you up.

There isn’t a lot of fresh fruit around in winter – apart from apples and oranges. That is where dried fruit comes in very handy – you don’t need it to be in season to use it. My favorite type of dried fruit is figs (I secretly prefer them to fresh ones) – you can buy ones that are soft, luscious and sweet, almost like a fortified wine. This weekend I used the packet of dried figs I had in the pantry to make individual spicy fig pies. I was inspired by a recipe in the Age newspaper I found during the week where they used dried apricots to make pies – I replaced these with figs.

By spicy pies, I mean that I added cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice to the dried figs to make a sweet syrupy pie filling which is rich and spicy. When it was cooking it had quite a heady aroma. I made a savory shortcrust pastry to go with the filling but if you have a sweet tooth, you could easily add a tablespoon of sugar to the flour when you make the pastry. Or you could make life easier for yourself by getting ready made frozen sweet or savory shortcrust pastry.

Making shortcrust pastry it isn’t as hard as you might think – it is made in the blender and easy to roll out. I like the fact that it is not rolled perfectly; it makes the pies look quite rustic. I sprinkled some flaked blanched almonds over the top before cooking. After they were cooked, I was in such a hurry to taste one that I completely forgot to sprinkle some icing sugar on top! It made no difference – the spicy fig pie was sweet enough for my liking. It suited the cold weather perfectly today – the pie was still warm, and so sweet, luscious and with a hint of spice. I had it with some thick cream whilst I sat in front of the heater with a cup of tea. Or you could even have it with a glass of port – surely there is nothing wrong with a mid afternoon port on a cold winter’s day? And then it might be time for a well-earned afternoon siesta, just like they do in Italy.

Spicy fig pie
makes 4
Shortcrust pastry:
200g plain flour
110g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon of caster sugar (optional)
4-5 tablespoons icy water
Pie filling:
375g dried figs, chopped in half and the hard stalk removed
400ml water
70g brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
Pinch nutmeg
1 small egg, lightly beaten
2 tblsp flaked almonds
Icing sugar for dusting
Clotted cream to serve

Placing the filling in the pies

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celsius. Grease four 9 cm diameter muffin tins with some butter. To make the fruit filling, place the figs, water, brown sugar and spices in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 or so minutes, stirring every now and then. The fruit will become soft, glossy and the liquid with reduce and become syrupy. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To make the shortcrust pastry, place the flour, butter, salt (and sugar if using) in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Do not over process. Then add the water, one tablespoon at a time in a thin stream until a ball of dough forms. Remove the dough from the processor, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Four pies ready for the oven

Divide the ball into quarters and roll out one quarter into a 12 cm diameter circle of pastry with a rolling pin (about 2mm thick). Place carefully into a greased muffin mould, leaving a little bit hanging over the edge that you will later fold over the completed pie. Repeat with the remaining dough until all four moulds have a pastry base. Place the dough you are not using in the fridge to keep it firm whilst you are lining the base of the moulds.

Spoon the filling into each of the four moulds. Make circular lids with the remaining pastry, about 9 cm diameter and place iver the filling. Fold the excess dough from the base of the pie back onto the lid and press down with a fork. Brush the lid with lightly beaten egg and sprinkle the almond flakes. Bake for 40 minutes or until pastry looks golden. Remove pies from their moulds and sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve with clotted cream.

And here is the pretty version with icing sugar sprinkled on top and my Paola Navone plate.

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The ancient life of figs – making an Italian fig cake

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 6 Comments

When I think of figs, I think of imperial Rome, men in togas, woman with long earrings, houses with mosaic floors and central atriums with water features. There is something ancient and mysterious about figs. Inside their purple or dark green jackets are luscious, red filaments that make up their sweet inner flesh.

A few weeks ago when we were eating figs after lunch, my father told me a story about the fig tree that grew in his family’s garden in Italy. The first figs produced in early summer were enormous, about the size of a soft ball (8 to 9 cm diameter) and called fioroni di fico (giant flowers of fig). His father, my nonno Matteo, would pick one off the tree every morning when they were in season and eat it there and then. I can just imagine him eating figs in the morning sun of the beautiful Adriatic town of Pola (now Pula). I have never seen these figs in markets in Australia, apparently they are not as sweet as the figs that you find in late summer (3 to 5 cm in diameter) but you get the bonus of being able to enjoy them at the start of summer.

Figs are very versatile and can be eaten on their own, as part of a savoury dish (figs go beautifully with blue cheese and prosciutto), on a cheese platter, in jam or as part of a dessert. A lovely breakfast is to stuff them with some ricotta and drizzle some honey over the top. One of my favorite ways of eating figs is baking them in a cake.

This week I made a rustic fig and hazelnut cake. The cake does not have many steps and apart from beating the butter, sugar and eggs with an electric mixer, it is mixed by hand. So it is hard to get wrong. Fresh figs are arranged in a pattern on top of the uncooked cake making the cake look festive. By pushing the figs down a little with your finger, the cake cooks around them and they keep the cake really moist. You can splash a bit of brandy on top of the cake once it is cooked and just before cutting it (I am Italian, most of our cakes have alcohol added in one form or another!).

We ate the cake after dinner sitting on the terrace, sipping a glass of Moscato while the last rays of sun were disappearing from the late summer sky. It was a great way to end the day!

Fig and hazelnut cake*
140g plain flour
125g butter, at room temperature
160g caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of baking powder
60ml milk (optional – replace 20 ml of the milk with 20ml brandy)
125g hazelnuts, ground
6 fresh figs, halved

Mixing the hazelnuts in with a wooden spoon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a 20cm diameter cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar in a food processor until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Place the mixture in a bowl and add half the flour, mixing well with a wooden spoon. Add the milk (or milk and brandy!). Mix until incorporated, then add the rest of the flour and the baking powder. Make sure it is all evenly mixed and finally incorporate the hazelnuts. If you grind the hazelnuts yourself, it is nice to leave some bigger pieces that give the cake texture. Place the mixture in the prepared cake tin. Press the fig halves a few centimetres into the cake to any pattern you like, cut surface of the fig side up. As the cake rises in the oven, the figs will sink a bit into the cake, so don’t push them all the way down. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. I found that I had to reduce the temperature to 170 degrees after half an hour because the top was burning a bit (my oven is fan forced) so make sure you check yours midway through cooking. The cake is ready when a skewer placed in the centre comes out clean. Rest for 15 minutes before turning put of the tin. I always use a cake tin with a removable base as I find it is easier to remove the cake that way. You could serve the cake with whipped cream, mascarpone, creme fraiche or vanilla ice cream. You can also splash some brandy on the cake if you did not put it in while you were cooking (or omit brandy altogether).

*adapted from Bill Grainger recipe

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