Fig, olive oil and hazelnut cake (receipe)

We are in the middle of fig season and maybe you are just like me: you just can’t get enough…! This full-on Mediterranean cake brings out quite some intense flavours – and not only of figs. Inspired by #annajones, I have adapted her receipe somewhat to my likings.

The hazelnut could be replaced with ground almonds – this would make the cake more smooth and perhaps less Mediterranean tasting…?

Print

Fig, olive oil and hazelnut cake

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

For the cake

• 170 ml olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 200 g brown sugar
• 100 g ground hazelnuts
• 250 g flour I used 100g whole wheat and 150g white flour
• 2 tea spoons baking powder
• 1 tea spoon vanilla powder
• salt
• 2 bio lemons
• 8 figs
• 1 spring of rosemary

For the syrup

• 1 spring of rosemary
• 70 ml maple syrup

Instructions

For the cake

• Heat your oven to 180° and prepare your cake form by cutting a piece of greaseproof paper large enough to cover the bottom.
• Mix the hazelnut, flour, baking powder, vanilla powder and salt with the zest of both lemons. Set aside.
• Beat the eggs and sugar with a mixer until they are nice and fluffy. This will probably take 4-5 minutes. Then add the olive oil and the juice of one lemon - mix thoroughly by hand.
• Add the dry ingredients to the oil mixture and again by hand, mix until you have a fully homogeneous batter. Carefully pour the batter into your prepared cake form.
• Cut the top of your figs and depending on the size, quarter them. Scatter the figs evenly on top of the batter - you can press one or the other more into the batter as you go along. Sprinkle the rosmary leaves over the top before baking the cake for 40-45 minutes or until your cake is golden and firm.
  

For the syrup

• About 5 minutes before your cake is ready, heat a small pan over medium heat and roast the leaves of the rosemary. Add the maple syrup and juice of the second lemon and let this simmer until your cake is finished.
  
• With a needle, make a few holes into your cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Equally pour the syrup over your cake and let it cool off completely before serving it.