fig and almond cake

It was a good thing we gave most of our figs away before I made this recipe because I would have made 10 more if I could. Just like our surplus of plums and tomatoes, it was finally fig time. A year ago I would have ignored this recipe because I was not a fan of figs, yet one year later and I can't get enough. I put figs on my pizza, fig jelly on my crackers, it's never-ending. This cake took about an hour in total to make, making it great for whipping up last minute. Bring this to a dinner party or enjoy with a cup of coffee in the morning.

What you need: Makes 1-9 inch cake

4 tablespoons butter, melted, plus butter for greasing pan
1 cup natural raw almonds (not blanched)
¼ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
¼ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon almond extract
12 to 14 ripe figs

What to do:

1. 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.

adding flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to almonds

2. 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.

3. 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.