Walnut Honey Fig Cupcakes Recipes

FIG CUPCAKES WITH HONEY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a standard muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer) add eggs and sugar and whisk on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add applesauce and sour cream and whisk to combine.
• Add flour mixture to the egg mixture and use a rubber spatula to gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined. Add figs, fig jam, and walnuts and fold these ingredients into the batter just until combined.
• Add 3 Tablespoons of batter to each cupcake liner so that they're ⅔ full. Bake cupcakes for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing the cupcakes from the pan.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using an electric handheld mixer), add butter, cream cheese, and salt and beat on high speed until smooth. Add honey and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add confectioners' sugar and beat until blended and smooth. Frost the cooled cupcakes using a spatula or pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes using a pastry bag and piping tip. Garnish the cupcakes with fresh fig slices just before serving.

UPSIDE-DOWN FIG & WALNUT HONEY CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 190ºC (375ºF) and brush a 10cm (4") deep, 20cm (8") square baking tin with a little oil or melted butter and line with baking paper. To prepare the topping of the cake, drizzle a bit of the honey onto the bottom of the lined pan and lay the fig slices evenly over the bottom of the pan. Scatter over the walnuts, making sure they occupy the gaps in between the slices of fig. Once this is done, drizzle over the rest of the honey. In a bowl, beat the softened butter with a spoon until soft and creamy. Then add the sugars; the brown sugar first, then the raw. Beat until pale. Now add the eggs, one by one, mixing them until well combined. Measure out the flour and the milk, and add them, a third at a time, alternating between the two, starting with the flour. Once this is done and you're left with quite the stiff mix, add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and honey. Mix until well combined and then fold in the diced figs. Once combined, carefully place mixture into the lined tin. Place in the oven for 40 to 60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand for 10-15 minutes before inverting onto a plate and tapping out of the tin. Peel the baking paper away and there you have it.

FIG AND ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan or pie pan; set aside. Put almonds and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor and grind to a coarse powder. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; pulse to combine.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, honey and almond extract. Add almond mixture and beat for a minute until batter is just mixed. Pour batter into pan.
• Remove stem from each fig and cut in half. Arrange fig halves cut-side up over the batter. Sprinkle figs with sugar and bake for 30 minutes, until golden outside and dry at center when probed with a cake tester. Cool before serving.