Fig And Walnut Coffee Cake Recipes

SPICED FIG, COFFEE & HAZELNUT CAKE

Steps:

• First, make the sponge. Put the dried figs in a bowl and pour over the coffee. Leave to soak for 30 mins. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tip the hazelnuts onto a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5-8 mins until golden brown and aromatic. Tip 75g of the nuts into a food processor (set aside the rest for later) and leave to cool for 10 mins. Meanwhile grease the base and sides of a 20 x 30cm rectangular cake tin with butter and line with baking parchment.
• Whizz the cooled nuts until finely chopped. Add the soaked figs and any remaining coffee, and whizz again to a paste. Add the remaining sponge ingredients to the processor with a good pinch of salt. Blend until well combined, scraping down the sides once or twice and blending again. Scrape into your cake tin, level the surface and bake for 25 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then flip onto a wire rack, peel off the parchment and leave to cool.
• While the cake cools, make the icing. Put the butter, vanilla and half the sugar in a large bowl. Roughly mash together with a spatula, then blend with an electric hand whisk until smooth. Add the cream cheese and the remaining icing sugar, mash, then blend again until smooth. Split the icing into 2 batches, one for layering and a crumb coat, and one for a final coat. You can chill the icing while the cake cools, but remove it from the fridge 15 mins before using to bring back to room temperature.
• Now assemble the cake. Transfer the cooled cake to a chopping board. Score the sponge at 10cm intervals along the length of the cake, marking out 3 sections, 20 x 10cm each. Cut through, then stack the cakes on top of each other to check they are the same size. Trim any uneven edges, then unstack.
• Put 1 sponge on a cake board or plate. Spread with a little icing and 3 tbsp fig jam, keeping the jam about 1cm from the edges. Top with another sponge, more icing and jam, then sandwich with the final sponge. Use a palette knife to cover the entire cake with the remaining first batch of icing (the crumb coat) - don't worry if it's a little messy. Make sure you fill any gaps between the layers with icing. Once covered, chill for at least 30 mins to firm up the icing. Chill the remaining icing too, but bring it out of the fridge 10-15 mins before the cake so it is ready for spreading.
• Decorate the cake. Remove it from the fridge and cover with the remaining icing. Use a palette knife to create smooth edges, or leave it fairly rough, if you like. Top the cake with the figs, pointy ends up. Put the caramel in a small piping bag, snip off the corner and drizzle over the top of the cake, encouraging it down the sides (or just drizzle it over with a spoon). Roughly chop the remaining toasted nuts and scatter over the top. Serve in slices with extra figs on the side, if you like. Keep leftovers in the fridge for 3 days, but bring to room temperature before eating.

FIG AND WALNUT COFFEE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chopped figs and half the nuts.
• Pour into greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan.
• Bake 45 to 50 min. or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 10 min. Loosen cake from sides of pan with knife. Invert cake onto wire rack; gently remove pan. Cool cake completely.
• Microwave jam in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec. or just until warmed; stir. Drizzle over cake; sprinkle with remaining nuts.

FRESH FIG AND WALNUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
• Cream sugar, shortening, and vanilla together in a mixing bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, and salt together in a separate bowl. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until blended; mixture will be a little dry. Stir in figs and walnuts; mixture will get added moisture from the figs. Use a medium cookie scoop to drop spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges start to brown, 12 to 13 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat to scoop and bake remaining batches.

WALNUT COFFEE CAKE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and baking soda; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in walnuts. Pour into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan., For the topping, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon; cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Stir in walnuts. Sprinkle over coffee cake. , Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

FIG COFFEE CAKE

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. In another bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Fold in crumbled cookies., Spread a third of the batter into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Top with half of the filling. Repeat layers. Top with remaining batter. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.