SHF No. 35 - The Beautiful Fig!

When Ivonne told me, way back when, that she'd be hosting an upcoming, Sugar High Friday, I knew I'd participate regardless of the theme she chose. I knew back then, that whatever she'd choose would be a favorite of mine - and I was right. The fig! I love them! Turned on by my Dad when I was a wee girl, I've ate them often during my 40 *gasp!* years. But I've learned something about the fig through using them in this really pretty and delicious cake. I don't like figs after all. Go figure. Okay well that's not entirely true. I love dried figs.. sweet, soft & crunchy. Just yummy - especially a fig stuffed with a lil mascarpone and then wrapped up in a paper thin, buttery slice of Proscuitto de Parma. *swoon* What I realized was, I'd never tasted a fresh fig before! They are gorgeous all dark purple and light green in spots (we're talking Mission Figs here) on the outside and then this amazing mauve like color on the inside.. SO PRETTY! But then when I popped one gorgeous lil slice of fresh fig into my mouth, I kinda stopped dead in my tracks. My jaws seized and my eyes kinda bulged a bit. The gag reflex started and I desperately looked for the garbage can. After I spat that thing out I wondered what the hell did I just put in my mouth? I don't recall dippin' into the litter box for a lil poo-poo platter.. I distinctly remember picking up a lil slice of beautiful fig.. what the hell? Okay so maybe it wasn't that bad.. but I definitely do not like the slightly musty and otherwise unflavor of a fresh fig. They are not sweet like their lil dried selves. At least the fresh figs that I bought weren't. So I'm curious.. did I get a bad batch or is this the way figs uhh.. don't taste? Well what the hell was I suppose to do with the lil carton I bought now? I thought about halving the rest and roasting them with a lil honey drizzled on top.. but I didn't want to hurt my honey. It's golden and sweet and nature's candy (oh wait, isn't that raisins?) no way did I want the unflavor to touch it.. of course I called my Guru. Sheesh, I don't think I make a move in my kitchen anymore without calling South Carolina for assistance. hee! I catch her as she, her hubby and her parents are out joy riding on their boat in the middle of the Atlantic, watching dolphins no less! But because she's a sweetheart she took the time to help me think of something to do with the remaining figs. Her suggestion was a sorbet - which was a good suggestion, but we realized I didn't have enough figs for the task. So then I asked, "well, what if I just dump them in the cake? Will the unflavor shine through and ruin it?" She didn't think it would, so that's what I did. I also had a bag of dried Mission figs, so I chopped them up and added them as well.. what the hay, right? It's a Fig Extravaganza! so I'd better go all the way, yes?! Well 45 minutes later, I pulled out a seriously gorgeous dark golden cake from my oven - which, by the way, smelled heavenly. I let it cool for a few minutes, then turned it out onto a plate and made the buttermilk glaze that I was suppose to drizzle over the top while still warm. Heeee that was an experience.. not that it has much to do with this post, but I also, somehow, in my psychotic brain decided that it'd be a good time to finish up making dinner at the same time. I should have taken pics, but I was too embarrased. Firstly, I had decided to double the glaze recipe as I wanted extra to pool onto a plate before laying a slice down (always thinking of the photo!!) BUT I read the recipe wrong and QUADRUPLED the amount of buttermilk it called for.. I kept wondering to myself, "Why the frig is this stuff so thin?? Shouldn't it have thickened up a bit??" Yeah.. well no.. no amount of stirring and boiling was going to make that sauce thicken up. So I poured it down the sink and tried again, this time reading and following the instructions - a novel idea, dontcha think? :P So I've got powdered sugar EVERYWHERE by now. I've got roasted veggies in a skillet next to the glaze and a big pot of Basmati rice on another burner - with my Garlic & Brown Sugar (because Yes! You Can Pair Garlic with Brown Sugar!) Chicken (that I'll be posting about in a couple days.. look forward to it, because it rocked, friends.. IT ROCKED!) removed from the crockpot and sitting in a roaster so I can crisp up the skin in a 450º oven. Every counter was completely filled with ingredients, a crock pot, dirty dishes, towels.. towels everywhere, and powdered sugar. Fakkin stuff is worse than flour. But I digress.. this post is about the Fig Preserve Cake.. which was mighty delicious. Those fresh figs cooked nicely in the batter and were a tad sweet when I bit into one.. no musty unflavor to speak of. The dried figs added a lovely chew and the texture of this buttermilk based cake was outstanding.. so dense and creamy if you will. I loved it. I spiced the cake up with cinnamon and nutmeg to kick it up a notch and those flavors paired perfectly with the figs. This is a super easy cake to put together and you definitely get a big bang for little effort. As I was telling a friend, this cake is so good that I'll make it again and again using different fruits to suit my tastes. Right now I'm thinking pears or apples and cranberries around the end of November. :D And I'd also love to try this base recipe with smooshed bananas to compare it to my all-time favorite banana cake. Fig Preserve Cake with Buttermilk Glaze Adapted from Recipezaar.com and @ngdarlen 1 1/2 c. sugar 2 c. all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground allspice (I omitted) 1/2 tsp. ground cloves (I omitted) 1 c. vegetable oil (I used 1/2 c. canola oil & 1/2 c. pear sauce (like applesauce) 3 eggs 1 c. buttermilk 1 TBS. vanilla extract 1 c. fig preserves 1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts (I omitted) I added - about 8 fresh Mission figs, chopped and about 15 chopped dried Mission figs Buttermilk Glaze 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar 1/4 c. buttermilk 1 TBS. butter 1 tsp. vanilla extract I added - 2 TBS. Grand Marnier (because my fig preserves had a lil orange in it so I thought the Grand Marnier would be nice.. it was. *hick*) Combine first 8 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; add oil and eggs, beating well at medium speed with electric mixer. Add buttermilk and vanilla, beating well. Stir in preserves, fresh & dried figs and pecans or walnuts, if using. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. (I used a 10 c. Bundt pan) Bake at 350º F. for 1 hour or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. At 45 minutes, my cake was a beautiful dark golden brown and completely done. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and place on serving platter. Pour buttermilk glaze over cake while both are still warm. Buttermilk Glaze Melt 1 TBS. butter in saucepan over low heat, add the buttermilk and the powdered sugar, heat till dissolved, then add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2 TBS. Grand Marnier if using. If the glaze is to thin or thick add powdered sugar or more buttermilk accordingly until you get the consistency you like. So here it is, Ivonne! My contribution to Sugar High Friday - The Beautiful Fig! I'm delighted with the outcome and I hope you are too. =) xoxo

SHF No. 33 - Tropical Paradise

To be honest, when I saw that my fellow Daring Baker and sweet friend, Mary of Alpineberry was hosting this month's Sugar High Friday with the theme of Tropical Paradise, I was kinda bummed. I'm not so much a tropical kinda gal. Show me a dessert menu that has all but one tropical flavored dessert and I can almost 100% guarantee you that I will pick whatever that one lonely non-tropical treat may be. This doesn't really make good sense as I adore tropical fruits and to a gal from Ohio, The Armpit of the Midwest, that means mangos, papaya, pineapple and coconut. I love them all.. and I'd probably love those fruits deemed tropical that I've never had or heard of. So go figger, eh? But I really wanted to show support to Mary so I went in search of a tropical-like dessert. What I came up with might not SCREAM tropical, but for me - it was a walk on the wild tropical side. Staring at my fridge, which is jam packed with HUGE zucchini from our garden, I needed to use some up as the next round was ready to be picked. Of course, my first thought was zucchini bread because you can use up a lot of zucchini that way. But zucchini bread isn't exactly a tropical statement, now is it? Yeah, not so much. But.. whatsay you add a lil coconut to the mix? Or hell.. be adventurous and add a LOT of coconut to the mix! Still probably not a dessert I'd see on any given menu in say, Hawaii, but for Ohio - holy hell, we're visiting white beaches, palm trees and sipping a fruity beverage complete with lil paper umbrella via my kitchen! Wooo! (Pathetic, I know) What I simply adore about this bread is that I screwed with the ingredients and it still came out as THE BEST zucchini bread I've ever had. Who knew coconut could jazz up your run of the mill zucchini bread? I originally found this recipe on allrecipes.com and after reading the first 15 or so reviews, I figured I'd give it a shot. Well as we all know, I'm trying desperately to drop a few 1000 pounds. Okay so mebbe not so "desperately", but I'm really trying to change the way I eat and the way I think about food. So when looking at this recipe I see the ingredients call for 1 c. sugar and 1/2 c. veg oil. I decided to try to lighten that up. I cut the sugar down to 1/4 c. and added 1/2 c. of Equal. I cut the oil down to 1/4 c. and add 1/4 c. of pearsauce. Yes, pearsauce. It's like applesauce only it's made with sausage. HAHAHAHAHAAAA!! No, really it's made with pears. Duh. Fanfarkintabulous, kids! I also increased the coconut to 3/4 c. and replaced the currants with a mix of raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries and blueberries (from Trader Joes *swoon*). This loaf of moist and fruity deliciousness is just tropically enough for me to submit it to this month's Sugar High Friday. Thanks for hosting Mary! And I hope your back feels MUCH MUCH BETTER!! Coconut Zucchini Loaf Courtesy of Carol and All Recipes Makes 1 loaf 1 egg 1/2 c. vegetable oil (1/4 c. canola oil + 1/4 c. pear (or apple) sauce) 1 c. white sugar (1/4 c. sugar 1/2 c. Equal) 1 c. grated zucchini (2 c. grated zucchini (skins on)) 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 1/2 c. flaked coconut (3/4 c. coconut) 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (I omitted them) 1/2 c. currants (3/4 c. raisin, golden raisin, dried cranberry & blueberry mix) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9" x 5" x 3" inch loaf pan. In small pan boil one cup water. Add currants or raisins, and boil for two minutes. Drain. In mixing bowl beat egg, oil, and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. In another bowl, measure flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut, walnuts, and currants or raisins. Stir to combine thoroughly. Pour all at once over batter in mixing bowl. Stir to moisten. Turn into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn out on rack. Cool and wrap. My Notes: At 40 min. my bread was getting pretty brown, so I capped the loaf pan with aluminum foil. At 50 minutes this bread was done, so check often after 40 min. I made another batch and got 12 muffins from it. I baked the muffins for 18 - 20 min. at same temp. Keep an eye out if you are a zucchini bread fan.. because my garden is chock full of zucchini with no signs of stopping any time soon, I'll be experimenting with different flavors of bread to try and use most of it up. :) xoxo