Before I get into today’s post, and share this gorgeous Fig and Chocolate Cake recipe, I want to send out a thank you to everyone for their lovely comments, emails and tweets in support of the release of my e-cookbook Delicious everyday. I have to say I was completely taken by surprise by the amount of support I received. Thank you doesn’t seem like enough, so I’m sharing with you this delicious cake instead!
One of my favourite things to make recently has been Nigel Slater’s Chocolate Muscovado Banana Cake (you can find the original recipe here on Wednesday Chef’s gorgeous site). Banana’s and chocolate are always a winning combination in my book, and coupled with the treacley richness of the dark brown sugar, it’s nothing short of divine. Especially since I double the chocolate in the original recipe (you can never have too much chocolate in my opinion). I’m so in love with this cake I’ve made one per week over the last few weeks.
However I came across some gorgeous figs recently, at my favourite greengrocer, and decided to substitute the bananas for beautiful juicy figs, for this Fig and Chocolate Cake, and it’s just as divine as the original. And I think, hope, Nigel Slater would approve. The slight jamminess of the figs in the baked cake, along with the soft chocolate chunks makes it a cake that is eaten all too soon, leaving you wanting another slice. In fact I do right now as I’ve just finished a slice of my Fig and Chocolate Cake right now as I’m typing out this post!
Fig & Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 6 figs diced
- 1 tbs honey
- 125 g butter softened, 1 stick
- 200 g muscovado or dark brown sugar 1 cup
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250 g plain flour 2 cups, all-purpose
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup milk
- 200 g dark chocolate chopped, 7 oz
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and grease a 22cm (9 inches) x 12cm (5 inches) loaf pan.
- Place the figs and honey in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar together until light and golden. Scrape down the sides, and add the eggs, one at a time, along with the vanilla extract, and mix until combined. Sift in the flour, baking powder and milk and mix until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold through the figs and chocolate.
- Pour into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the cake is browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly cover with foil.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing and cooling completely on a cake rack.
