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Fig and Hazelnut Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

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For the longest time I thought figs were a small, beige, chewy and slightly sticky giant raisin in the shape of a puck. I had no idea they were a plump mildly sweet aromatic blob shaped like Michelangelo’s centrepiece on David. Until at the embarrassing age of 16 when i was at a friends home and noticed the parents platter of fruits and cheese. Or rather what I thought at the time as a mini pear infested with maggots.

Well I’ve since grown. And fresh figs for me far out weigh beauty and taste than dried figs.  

Fresh figs back in the 70’s and 80’s were limited and scarce here in Toronto. I don’t think I can say I ever saw fresh figs before the 90’s in a grocery store. Mother would buy several packs of dry figs which cost 99 Cents a dozen at each grocery store visit. It was our go to snack. Instead of chewing on fig newtons like other normal kids,  I remember my sisters and eating heaps of dried figs while romping around in the playground in the hot summer sun. A dozen each to be exact. And it would last the entire playground duration as we’d be chewing the sweet figs like chewing tobacco. 

With my nut allergic daughter out of town, I decided to combine the figs with toasted hazelnuts. It’s been a while since I had them and I had this insistent craving. The result was a texturally beautiful, nutty sweet cake with a slight chocolate zing from the mild cocoa icing. A perfect summer cake.

Bon App!

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Fig and Hazelnut Cake with Coco Cream Cheese Icing
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • FOR THE CAKE:
  • 325 grams or 2½ cups AP flour
  • 300 grams or 1½ cups granulated white sugar
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 4 eggs room temperature
  • 1 cup melted unsalted butter
  • 150 grams lightly toasted hazelnuts ground to a coarse powder (about a cup whole hazelnuts)
  • 250 grams or about 5 figs peeled and pureed in food processor or Ninja
  • Couple extra figs to garnish
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
  • ⅓ cup or 100 grams ricotta
  • FOR THE ICING: (Enough for a naked cake)
  • 1 cup or 260 grams cream cheese room temperature
  • ½ cup or 113 grams or 1 stick softened unsalted butter
  • ½ cup or 50 grams unsweetened cocoa
  • 3½ cups or 500 grams icing sugar (sifted together and mixed with the cocoa)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
Instructions
  1. FOR THE CAKE:
  2. Line bottoms with parchment paper and grease three 6 inch pans
  3. FOR THE HAZELNUTS: preheat oven to 375F and lightly toast nuts for 10 minutes on baking tray
  4. Once done nuts, drop temperature down to 350F for the cake
  5. Pulse the nuts in food processor about 30 seconds or so until a coarse powder and set aside
  6. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well with whisk and set aside
  7. Put the room temperature butter in bowl and microwave on defrost for about 45 seconds. This should melt the butter without heating it. If the butter has warmed up too much, pop in fridge. You want the butter to be a liquid and cool. Set aside
  8. Remove stems and peel (optional to peel) skin of figs and puree in blender about 20 seconds and set aside
  9. In stand mixer or hand mixer with paddle attachment, toss the white sugar in and
  10. Then blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping sides and bottom of bowl every so often
  11. Add the butter in a slow steady stream while blending
  12. Add the vanilla extract or paste
  13. Stir in the pureed figs, ricotta and the hazelnuts until just combined
  14. Add the dry mixture now by a third at a time. Don't over blend. approximately 10 seconds for each third on low speed
  15. Pour into 3 baking pans equally and bake for 25 minutes or until tester (tooth pick) comes out clean
  16. Once baked, allow to cool in pans a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack
  17. all to cool completely before icing
  18. FOR THE ICING:
  19. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth
  20. Add the butter and beat until well combined and smooth
  21. add the Vanilla extract/paste
  22. Add the cocoa/icing sugar a bit at a time and beat for another couple minutes until the consistency is smooth
  23. ASSEMBLING CAKE:
  24. Place your first layer down, apply about a ¼ inch layer of icing
  25. Put the next cake layer and continue until the cake has been covered with the icing

 

 

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