Fig and Hazelnut Cake with Coco Cream Cheese Icing
Author: Betty Binon
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
FOR THE CAKE:
Line bottoms with parchment paper and grease three 6 inch pans
FOR THE HAZELNUTS: preheat oven to 375F and lightly toast nuts for 10 minutes on baking tray
Once done nuts, drop temperature down to 350F for the cake
Pulse the nuts in food processor about 30 seconds or so until a coarse powder and set aside
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well with whisk and set aside
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
Remove stems and peel (optional to peel) skin of figs and puree in blender about 20 seconds and set aside
In stand mixer or hand mixer with paddle attachment, toss the white sugar in and
Then blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping sides and bottom of bowl every so often
Add the butter in a slow steady stream while blending
Add the vanilla extract or paste
Stir in the pureed figs, ricotta and the hazelnuts until just combined
Add the dry mixture now by a third at a time. Don't over blend. approximately 10 seconds for each third on low speed
Pour into 3 baking pans equally and bake for 25 minutes or until tester (tooth pick) comes out clean
Once baked, allow to cool in pans a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack
all to cool completely before icing
FOR THE ICING:
In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth
Add the butter and beat until well combined and smooth
add the Vanilla extract/paste
Add the cocoa/icing sugar a bit at a time and beat for another couple minutes until the consistency is smooth
ASSEMBLING CAKE:
Place your first layer down, apply about a ¼ inch layer of icing
Put the next cake layer and continue until the cake has been covered with the icing
Recipe by STEMS & FORKS at https://www.stemsandforks.com/?p=1167