Almond and Fig Cake for One

If you know me at all--even a little bit--you know that I am OBSESSED with figs. I adore them in any way, shape, or form, and I have oodles of recipes from sweet to savory and back again. The fig season is short, and due to a drought this year, we're having an odd one, with trickles of ripe fruit, sudden gluts, and then trickles again. I've decided that for the next week or so, I'm going to put out a LOT of fig recipes (for single servings), but I want to be clear: If you live near me, YOU MUST GIVE ME ALL THE FIGS. These recipes are only for those who live far far away. All the figs in my neck of the woods are mine mine mine. Are we all clear?

Whew.

Okay. Here we go! Today's recipe is a sweet little cake. You could do it up for breakfast, but I like it as a mid-afternoon treat.

2 fresh figs, stemmed

1 1/2 TBLSP ground flax seed

2 TBLSP water

1 tsp lemon zest

¼ cup almond meal (or finely crushed almonds)

2 TBLSP all-purpose flour

1 ½ TBLSP oat flour (just zip some oats in your blender)

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

Dash of cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

2 teaspoons maple syrup (or slightly less agave)

2 TBLSP almond milk

1 teaspoon almond oil (you can use canola if you don’t have this one)

1 teaspoon sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line one ramekin with parchment paper. This will be a nice craft project. Or, you could line a muffin tin with a cupcake liner.

1.      Puree the figs in a food processor or blender and scrape the goo into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the puree begins to boil, about 5 minutes. You’ve just made jam! Let it cool, and then refrigerate it. (You can put the hot jam into the cake. The refrigerator is for the left-overs.) 

2.      In a small bowl, let the flax seed and water amalgamate until it’s a gooey mass, about 3 minutes

3.      In another small bowl, combine the zest, almond meal, both flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

4.      Whisk the flax glop, maple syrup, almond milk, and oil together and then add it to the flour mixture, stirring until it’s thoroughly incorporated into a batter.

5.      Fill the ramekin about half-way with batter. Add about 1 TBLSP of the cooled fig puree to the center of the dough and then cover the figginess with the rest of the batter.

6.      Sprinkled sliced almonds on top.

7.      Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.