Fig and Honey Cake

This fig and honey cake is rich and moist. It’s the perfect make-ahead cake (since it gets even better the next day) and a great way to celebrate fig and honey harvest!

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I have an obsession with figs! I love figs any which way (have you ever tried fig cheesecake or fig jam? Yum!). My fig tree is only a couple of years old and still not producing, but I can’t wait to harvest figs from my backyard.

For now, I get figs anyway I can. From friends or in Israel where you can find figs pretty much everywhere. I visit Israel 3 or 4 times a year (my whole family is there), and sometimes I plan my trips around fig season (and mulberry season too! So I can make mulberry pie).

Fig and Honey Cake…

Last year, I was in Israel for the Rosh Hashanah holiday (the Jewish New Year), which is a celebration of the honey and fig harvest. Usually, we make a honey cake for this holiday, so I thought, how about I add some figs and see what happens… And so I did, and the result was ever so delicious!

Ingredients…

• Brown sugar
• Honey
• Butter
• Water
• Instant coffee
• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Figs
• Dates
• Walnuts

Kitchen Tools…

• Cutting board
• Knife
• Mixing bowl
• Hand mixer (or a stand mixer)
• Spatula
• 9.5” bundt cake pan

How to Make Fig and Honey Cake…

Step one – dice. Start by chopping the walnuts and dicing the figs and the dates.

Step two – make the cake batter. In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), mix the sugar, honey, and melted butter. In a separate small bowl or a cup, add the instant coffee to warm water and stir until it melts. Add the coffee mixture and eggs to the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Sift the flour and add it to the wet ingredients. Then add the baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until combined. Lastly, with a spatula, fold in the chopped walnuts, figs, and dates.

Step three – add batter to the pan. Spray your bundt pan with baking oil and transfer the batter to the pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times before placing it on a baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for about 50 minutes. To know if the cake is ready, stick a wooden toothpick in it, if the toothpick comes out dry, the cake is ready.

Step four – remove from pan. Remove the cake from the oven and set it on the counter to cool for 15 minutes or so. Then place a plate over the open side of the pan and flip the pan over. Gently release the cake from the pan onto the plate.

How to Serve this Cake…

Please don’t be mad… But, like any other honey cake, this one as well, will benefit from 24 hours of curing. If your house is cool, you can leave it out on the counter (make sure to cover it after it cooled to room temperature). If it’s warm, wrap it in plastic wrap (after it cooled to room temperature) and place it in the fridge.

It’s not that you can’t serve it right away, you can. However, letting it cure for 12-24 hours will make all the flavors richer. When you are ready to serve the cake, if you stored it in the fridge, take it out and let it come back to room temperature. Then you can dust powdered sugar on top of the whole cake or you can frost it.

Options And Variations…

• Recipe for frosting – to make a delicious frosting to go on top, beat, with a hand mixer or a stand mixer, 8 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature), 2-6 tablespoons of honey (depending on how sweet you want your frosting to be), and 1 tablespoon of milk until smooth. Use an icing spatula to frost the cake. You can then decorate with crushed walnuts.
• Nuts – feel free to replace the walnuts with pecans or almonds if you like those better. They all should work just fine.
• Figs – canned figs can work if you can’t find fresh ones. Also, frozen figs can work. Use them when they are still frozen.
• Add ins – you can replace the dates with raisins. Or you can use a combination of the two.

How to Store this Fig and Honey Cake…

• At room temperature – cover with tin foil and store on the counter for a couple of days.
• In the fridge – cover with tin foil or a plastic wrap, or place the cake in a cake container and store it in the fridge. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. You can heat individual slices in the microwave for a few seconds before serving if you’d like.
• In the freezer – this cake freezes very well! I like to slice it into individual servings and wrap each slice in plastic food wrap before freezing. To thaw, place it on the counter at room temperature, and then, if you’d like, you can heat the slice in the microwave for a few seconds.

Kitchen Notes…

• Rosh Hashanah – is the Jewish New Year and a big holiday (happening in September or October every year). One of this holiday’s traditions is to serve lots of honey dishes to prepare for a sweet year ahead! We make a honey cake every year and this one is a great one to serve!
• Make ahead – since this cake needs some time to cure, it’s a great cake to make ahead for a party. It gets better on its third or even fourth day (as long as you store it properly and don’t let it dry out).
• Pan – I love making it in a bundt cake pan simply because it’s so beautiful! However, you can also make it in a springform pan, a 9 x 13 pan, or even in quick bread pans (you’ll probably need more than one). You’ll most likely need to adjust baking time but everything else stays the same.

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This is a delicious seasonal cake that is coffee’s best friend. It’s rich and moist and beautiful! I sure hope that you’ll give it a try.

More Healthy Recipes…

• Almond Butter Cookies
• Easy Strawberry Bread Recipe
• Chocolate Walnut Cake
• Easy Apple Cake Recipe
• Simple Oatmeal Cookies

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