0 Mini Fig Cakes

No summer is complete unless I make my summer fruit torte at least once. This year my summer torte came a bit late. So I guess it's really more of an autumn fruit torte. But it just goes to show the versatility of this recipe. Black Mission figs were looking good at the farmers' market so we bought more than we could eat. I had a handful of figs that were a bit wrinkly and were just past their prime for eating fresh but still perfectly good.

I decided to play around with the torte recipe and I ended up with these miniature fig cakes. They are not quite muffins and not quite cupcakes either, but they were quite good. I was hoping that the fig would be more visible in the end product, but they ended up sinking to the middle of the little cakes. Oh well. The nuttiness of the ground hazelnuts made for a nice complement to the sweet figs.



Miniature Fig Cakes
(makes 12)

4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup ground hazelnuts
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
6 figs, halved
1 tbsp granulated sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven 350 F. Line 12 (4-ounce capacity) wells of a standard muffin pan with paper liners or butter and flour each of the wells.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder and salt to combine. Set aside.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light. Mix in vanilla extract. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add dry ingredients and mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Batter will be a bit stiff.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 prepared wells. Place 1 halved fig atop the batter in each well. Sprinkle with sugar if using.

Bake mini cakes until golden brown or until a tester comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

Note: I actually used 9 figs total. I placed 1 halved fig and 1 quartered fig in each cake.