Fig cake

[amccomb]

Hello!

I am making a couple of cakes for a co-worker's going away party, and I need help with flavor ideas! I already have one cake set - chocolate and praline - but I wanted to do something with figs. I thought maybe a plain yellow cake, soaked with a port glaze with my homemade fig jam between the layers, and iced with a marscapone/honey icing. I also thought about the same fig jam, but soaking the cake with gran marnier and using orange blossom water with the marscapone icing.

I'm not committed to the marscapone icing, but it just struck me as something that went well with figs. The other problem is I have no idea how I would make the marscapone icing! I thought about using it like cream cheese, but I was afraid the taste would be lost with the butter and powdered sugar. I also didn't want it to be TOO sweet, so I thought about just whipping it with the honey, or whatever, but I'm not sure if that would work.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

[JasonTrue]

Rather than a cake, I think I might be inclined to do more of a fruit tart. I would be inclined to do a simple pate sucree, use the mascarpone slightly sweetened as an alternative to a custard or curd filling (you could turn it into a custard, of course), and place lengthwise quarters or halves of grilled figs on top after the filling has set. I'd personally like to have some citrus or acid flavors to contrast with the figs, so grilled or at least pan-caramelized halves of kumquat would be perfect. Alternatively, some other citrus fruit, segmented, might be nice.

Hello!

I am making a couple of cakes for a co-worker's going away party, and I need help with flavor ideas!  I already have one cake set - chocolate and praline - but I wanted to do something with figs.  I thought maybe a plain yellow cake, soaked with a port glaze with my homemade fig jam between the layers, and iced with a marscapone/honey icing.  I also thought about the same fig jam, but soaking the cake with gran marnier and using orange blossom water with the marscapone icing. 

I'm not committed to the marscapone icing, but it just struck me as something that went well with figs.  The other problem is I have no idea how I would make the marscapone icing!  I thought about using it like cream cheese, but I was afraid the taste would be lost with the butter and powdered sugar.  I also didn't want it to be TOO sweet, so I thought about just whipping it with the honey, or whatever, but I'm not sure if that would work.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

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[bluechefk]

i really like armagnac with figs - also toasted walnuts. my first thought was for a vanilla bean cake that you could soak with an armagnac syrup, but a toasted walnut & honey cake could be great, too. re: the mascarpone - how about whipping it with honey, as you'd thought, and spreading that between the layers, then covering that with the fig jam? maybe a honey buttercream on the outside?

[jgarner53]

raspberries are great with figs.

[sugarbuzz]

Seeing as how Fall is here how about a pumpkin cake with a thin layer of fig jam & another layer of some flavored mascarpone..maybe orange or Armanagac(possibly reduce some armagnac with some simple syrup to get it nice & thick & add to mascarpone)..and for a frosting..a nice light buttercream..a good quality honey or maple.

[PassionateChefsDie]

Hello!

I am making a couple of cakes for a co-worker's going away party, and I need help with flavor ideas!  I already have one cake set - chocolate and praline - but I wanted to do something with figs.  I thought maybe a plain yellow cake, soaked with a port glaze with my homemade fig jam between the layers, and iced with a marscapone/honey icing.  I also thought about the same fig jam, but soaking the cake with gran marnier and using orange blossom water with the marscapone icing. 

I'm not committed to the marscapone icing, but it just struck me as something that went well with figs.  The other problem is I have no idea how I would make the marscapone icing!  I thought about using it like cream cheese, but I was afraid the taste would be lost with the butter and powdered sugar.  I also didn't want it to be TOO sweet, so I thought about just whipping it with the honey, or whatever, but I'm not sure if that would work.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

←

The best way I ever had figs was like a traditional fruit tart but with Pastis(Not Pernod!) creme pat topped with the figs! The aniseed and fig worked so well I've never forgotten got to add not particular keen on fresh figs unless with air dried ham but this converted me completly!

Hope this helps Stef

[Redsugar]

“Now sing of the fig, Simiane,

Because its loves are hidden.” – André Gide

It's probable that I would need to sternly restrained from consuming an entire tray of fresh black-mission figs with pale-rose interiors or greenish golden-fleshed ones. Such is the nature of one of my few publically confessed weaknesses….

Luscious figs ally in the pastry kitchen most notably with:

*Fresh raspberries (as jgarner53 zestfully offered, above) and a premium raspberry liqueur – such as Chambord Royale, La Salamandre, or Marie Brizard Crème de Framboise. Kirschwasser & orange-flavored spirits, too.

*Fortified wines, such as Marsala and Sherry (Persimmon Sherry, from the White Owl Winery in Illinois, has a great depth of flavor). A great Spanish brandy

*Cream of coconut & extra-virgin coconut oil. (Please become acquainted with that splendid oil; it’s the healthiest on the planet!)

*Candied citrus peel, pignoli, walnuts, ground mace.

*Caramelized, figs are lovely served with crème brûlée – or hedonistically scooped into a clafouti (richly served, I’d suggest, with caramel crème anglaise).

*Tarte aux Figues: A generous offering of the fresh fruit served on packets of pâte feuilletée. See, e.g., Ann Willan, La France Gastronomique (p. 59) and Robert Carrier’s enchanting Feasts of Provence (p. 181). Also refer to the recipe for Petites Tranches aux Figues in Hilary Walden’s Pâtisserie of France (p. 88). Seeking a different, but more elegant presentation? Consider serving figs wrapped in packets of phyllo. Easy to make; and an orange-flower water crème anglaise can be prepared the day before serving.

*A Lady Baltimore Cake traditionally has dried figs in the filling, but I suspect it would be too-over-the-top for your gathering. A better suggestion is that you Google-search for a recipe to bake a dried-fig cake called "Torta di fichi e noci." It’s a no-fuss preparation made in a springform pan. Saveur had published a recipe for scrumptious Fig-&-Almond Cake in its Nov./Dec., 1996 issue, and perhaps it’s freely available on the magazine’s Web site. Sherry Cream is a pleasant accompaniment to a fig-studded cake:

Whip to blend 16 fl. oz. well-chilled cream with about 5 tbsps golden sugar; add 2-3 fl. oz. of Cream Sherry and continue to whip to nicely buoyant soft peaks.

Thomas Keller paired Roasted Figs w/ Wildflower-Honey Vanilla I.C. I made the ice cream one summer to eat with wild blueberries...alas, no figs! (The French Laundry Cookbook, p. 284).

*And – ta, da! – honorable mention in a discussion of this subject must be accorded to the mahogany-hued Figuon:

http://www.liquoristerie-provence.fr/figgb.htm

You may like to refer to recipe ideas offered by the California Fig Advisory Board en route to making your decision:

http://www.calfreshfigs.com/

[Edited to correct pesky mispellings.]

Edited September 27, 2005 by Redsugar (log)

[dockhl]

*Cream of coconut & extra-virgin coconut oil. (Please become acquainted with that splendid oil; it’s the healthiest on the planet!)

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Redsugar~

What would you do here?

Kathy

[Redsugar]

By way of example, there is an Amy Pearce recipe for Caramelized Fig Cake in Tucker & Enloe’s The Artful Vegan: Fresh Flavors from the Millennium Restaurant (Ten Speed Press, 2003). Substitute the called-for canola oil with e.v. coconut oil – and brush the pan with the latter oil as well. It’s also delicious to use in carrot cakes and pineapple upside-down cakes. (I’ve never used coconut flour, but it sounds like an intriguing product.)

Coconut & figs pair exquisitely in other combinations, too – coconut crème brûlée and coconut panna cotta would both star appropriately with dried figs poached in red wine. Or spoon the poached figs onto a melon-&-mint salad, then garnish with coconut chips.

I must add that Sugarbuzz's suggestions (pumpkin, orange, Armagnac, maple syrup, Mascarpone) are admirably inspired. A pumpkin-fig combo could be very captivating. Thank you!. (What is the name of that pumpkin syrup used by Mexican cooks?)

In her book, A Feast of Fruits, Elizabeth Riely included recipes for "Figs with Marsala & Mascarpone," "Fig Frangipane Tart," Figs Poached in Madeira," and "Baked Figs in Brandy or Port." (pp. 93-97)

Edited September 27, 2005 by Redsugar (log)