A Touch of Cardamom and Cloves

You might think that since I write a food blog that I eat gourmet food all the time. Nope. We mostly eat fairly simple foods and a lot of them are on repeat. Grilled chicken thighs and grilled fresh zucchini yesterday for dinner, and turkey chili for dinner tonight...like that.

Where I find myself playing around is often in baking, but, in order to not get any heavier than I already am, I'm only baking when I can share it with others...and leave them the leftovers. That way I get to taste what I bake, but I keep the calories down.

We were supposed to go to dinner last week in Healdsburg at a friend's house, and so I made a cake to take and share. Unfortunately there was a last minute change of plans related to Sweetie being on the board of the local fire district. After his meeting we gave in and had a slice of the cake, with the hopes that we would be able to share the rest with our Healdsburg friends.  I'll be able to bake something else later this week if all goes well and we have dinner in Healdsburg.

So the cake is a new recipe for me from the Substack of David Leibowitz. It's a fig and yogurt cake. I did make a couple of changes but I'm sure it was delicious the way it was written, too. I substituted a bit of sour cream for some of the yogurt because I wanted it just a bit richer. The recipe calls for five-spice powder as flavoring and I don't care for that. I decided to use a touch of cardamom and a bit of ground cloves instead. Those flavors went really well with the fresh figs that top the cake. The amounts used may seem to be too little, but these are both robust flavors, so a little goes a long way.

This is a single layer fairly rustic cake, but it is moist, not too sweet, and really delicious. The yogurt and the fruit allow it to stay moist a while, too, so you can enjoy it for a number of days. 

This cake has almond flour along with some all-purpose flour. If you are gluten sensitive, you could use almond flour and a gluten-free flour mix like King Arthur Baking One-to-One gluten free mix. No fresh figs? Fresh plums or apricots or nectarines would work well here, too. 

You could probably use poached pears, although I haven’t tried them. If you do, you should probably cut them into very thick slices after poaching so they stay moist due to the long-ish baking time.

 Due to the nut flour, this cake is quite hearty, not airy. Thanks to the oil in the nuts, it’ll keep nicely for 3 or 4 days at room temperature under a cake dome or well wrapped. The cake is just fine to serve on its own, but is also great with vanilla ice cream or a puff of whipped cream...which is how I served it, although I didn't get a photo of that.  A few poached or roasted figs with some of their liquid also pairs nicely with the cake.

 Fig-Yogurt Cake

8 servings

 Adapted by David Leibowitz  from the Fig, Yogurt and Almond Cake by Yotam Ottolenghi

200g (7 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature

200g (1 cup) granulated sugar, plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar or 1 tablespoon turbinado (coarse) sugar crystals, for sprinkling over the finished cake

3 large eggs, at room temperature

100g (7 tablespoons) Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a scant 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

180g (1 3/4 cups) almond flour

100g (scant 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

10-12 fresh or frozen figs (if using frozen figs, don’t defrost them first)

 

1. Line the bottom of a 9-inch (24cm) cake pan with a round of parchment paper. Butter the sides of the pan or coat with nonstick spray.
2. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand, beat the butter and 200g (1 cup) of granulated sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Stop the mixer, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing them in on low speed, stopping the mixer after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the yogurt and extract.
5. Whisk together the almond flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and five-spice powder in a medium bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.
6. Quarter the figs and place the figs in concentric circles, cut side up, around the top of the cake.
7. Bake the cake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 325ºF (170ºC) and bake the cake until it just feels set in the center, about 40 minutes longer.
8. Remove from the oven and place the cake pan on a cooling rack. Let cool a few minutes, then run a sharp knife around the outside of the cake to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top of the cake.
9. To remove the cake from the pan, it’s easier to do while the cake is still slightly warm. Run a knife again around the outside of the cake, and place a dinner plate upside down on top of the cake pan. Holding the cake pan and the plate firmly in place with both hands, turn both over simultaneously and the cake will release. (If it’s a bit stubborn and doesn’t come out easily, you can place the cake in a warm oven for a few minutes or set it over the low flame of a gas burner for a few seconds.)
10. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake, invert a serving platter over the bottom of the cake, then turn the cake and the platter over simultaneously.