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Cake help please

cyalexa

By cyalexa
in Pastry & Baking

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cyalexa

cyalexa

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I have an abundance of fresh figs and would like to experiment with a fig upside-down chocolate cake. I make pineapple upside-down cake frequently. Can I sub cocoa powder for some of the flour? If yes, how much? I think a less sweet dark chocolate cake would be a good foil for the figs but the only 2 dark chocolate cakes I am familiar with are very moist and I am not sure how they would flip out of my cast iron skillet. Any ideas out there?  

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Thanks for the Crepes

Thanks for the Crepes

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Personally, I would enjoy the regular yellow cake usually used with pineapple upside down cake better than chocolate with fresh figs to allow the fig flavor to shine though more. I'm quite jealous of your abundance of figs, cyalexa.

 

That said, I know I am speaking eG blasphemy here, but I adjust baking recipes to my own taste without hesitation now, but I've been baking for about 50 years, if you count "helping" my mom when I was eight and younger. I've reduced sugar in cake recipes that sound too sweet to me, and the world (or the cake) does not collapse, and I've enjoyed the results. I've also frequently added cocoa to chocolate cake mixes and then adjust the water until it looks right with good results and deeper chocolate flavor. This technique also serves to cut the sweetness. Cocoa is a finely milled powder like flour, you must remember though, that since it contains no gluten, it probably won't help support the loft of the cake.

 

If I were trying to do what you're trying to do, I'd start with a chocolate cake recipe I already knew and liked and closest to the texture and flavor you're trying to achieve and adjust the liquid and fat down a little to compensate for the liquid from the figs and the butter from the upside-down-style topping usually placed in the bottom of the cake pan with the fruit before the batter is poured. I don't worry at all anymore about cutting sugar by up to half in cake recipes. I've never had a bad result, but I am not a pastry chef either, and we have some very talented ones as members here. Maybe someone will chime in with more technical advice for you.

 

Good luck with your project, and enjoy your figs. *Sigh* I almost never see them fresh, and I love them dearly.

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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shain

shain

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You should be fine if subbing a small portion (just make sure to use regular AP flour, as cake flour diluted with cocoa will be too weak to hold the cake).

If you want a stronger chocolate flavor you can add a little coffee (either instant coffee powder or some strong brewed drink instead of some liquids).

Also, you can incorporate chopped chocolate pieces, which will not effect the cake base. Just make sure to use dark, barely sweet chocolate for this (70-85% cocoa solids), as the figs should be sweet enough.

 

BTW, have you thought about making fig flaugnarde? (it's quite amazing)

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~ Shai N.

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Alex

Alex

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Figs and chocolate seem mismatched to me. I think I'd have a brighter flavor for figs. Citrus or strawberry perhaps?

 

Perhaps in a cake, but these dark chocolate fig bonbons are pretty wonderful. Maybe it's the brandy.

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cyalexa

cyalexa

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You should be fine if subbing a small portion (just make sure to use regular AP flour, as cake flour diluted with cocoa will be too weak to hold the cake).

If you want a stronger chocolate flavor you can add a little coffee (either instant coffee powder or some strong brewed drink instead of some liquids).

Also, you can incorporate chopped chocolate pieces, which will not effect the cake base. Just make sure to use dark, barely sweet chocolate for this (70-85% cocoa solids), as the figs should be sweet enough.

 

BTW, have you thought about making fig flaugnarde? (it's quite amazing)

Thank you for posting - I can't decide which to try first!

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Thanks for the Crepes

Thanks for the Crepes

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cyalexa,

 

That recipe for claufoutis will make a sweet, eggy, not very deep chocolate result, and be more custard than cake. It's not what I thought you were looking for, but that's not to say it wouldn't be good. I am sure it is if it came from St. Julia. It also eliminates the problem of excess moisture trapped with the fruit underneath an upside-down-style cake because the fruit is placed on top cut side up so moisture evaporates into the oven.

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> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

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cyalexa

cyalexa

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cyalexa,

 

That recipe for claufoutis will make a sweet, eggy, not very deep chocolate result, and be more custard than cake. It's not what I thought you were looking for, but that's not to say it wouldn't be good. I am sure it is if it came from St. Julia. It also eliminates the problem of excess moisture trapped with the fruit underneath an upside-down-style cake because the fruit is placed on top cut side up so moisture evaporates into the oven.

Your right, it is totally different than my original inquiry. That said, it sounds good to me. I may try the upside-down chocolate idea another time. The fig harvest will slow as the weather cools but won't totally stop until there is a frost. Still hoping someone posts an idea for those bonbons, they look amazing.

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hummingbirdkiss

hummingbirdkiss

Posted
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I like chocolate and figs and would try to add about 1/4 cup of good cocoa to the recipe some coffee and lots of good vanilla …yes just when you eat the cake you can not think "pineapple upside down" you need to think fig ginger upside down with mocha cake or something it needs some ginger in the figs for the bottoming caramelize them isn't a problem but the figs do get mushy when frozen …citric acid a tiny bit to get a little tang but not much and ginger ..not lemon in my opinion and make the cake more of a  mild mocha 

 

I would have done it and wish I had seen this earlier before you changed your mind I get where you were going with this ..I have figs and maybe will try this idea soon I like chocolate and figs 

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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