We visited Disney World on New Year’s Day with our visiting relatives. Just before midnight, I had to eat some black-eyed peas. Use the slow cooker to soak the black-eyed peas overnight for convenience. This has a thinner consistency, resembling a rich soup. We really liked it, and we think you will too. My favorite side dishes to go with black-eyed peas are warm buttered cornbread and chunky applesauce.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 18 |
| Yield: | 1 – 9×13 inch pan |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup chopped fresh figs
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup evaporated milk
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan. Mix together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup butter and 1 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the chopped figs and pecans.
- Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
- To make the icing: In a large saucepan, mix together butter, sugar, evaporated milk and baking soda. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then cook without stirring until the mixture turns brown, or until it reaches the soft ball stage on a candy thermometer (234 degrees F – 115 degrees C). Cool to lukewarm (110 degrees F). Pour into a small bowl and beat until it thickens to spreading consistency. Quickly spread icing onto the cooled cake.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 349 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 37 g |
| Cholesterol | 74 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 333 mg |
| Sugars | 26 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I added more figs and I didn’t have nutmeg, so I used ginger, as that’s still a complementary spice for this wonderful seasonal dessert.
Full of flavour!! I added lest cloves (cloves usually take over the flavours) and it does taste like a spice cake, but the figs are a great addition
I live in a remote location off grid, with no local access to a grocery store for recipe ingredients, so for this I substituted walnuts for pecans and powdered for condensed milk, and I made no frosting. The result is the most delicious cake I have ever made, very moist, with a bold texture and nicely accented with cinnamon and nutmeg. I used fresh figs from my garden.
Love this moist yummy cake.?????? Used a bundt pan just because it reminds me of my mom when she baked with it. Bake time was the same. Iced it with a lemon butter icing. Delicious are the compliments I get.
Great cake. Made it as an upside down cake and it wowed the guests. Served it with whipped cream Yum.
Really tasty, and a great way to use up my fresh figs. It freezes very well also!
This cake was awesome! I have a fig tree and every year need to find things to make with figs, so a friend of mine and I gave this a try last night. We didn’t make the icing. We tried it while it was pretty hot, so the flavors didn’t immediately come through— but by the third bite, we were hooked! Will definitely make again!
This cake is excellent. My kids and husband all loved this. I agree with other reviewers that the figs are not a big part of the flavor, more of a moist spice cake. I did not change anything except to leave out the pecans as my family are not fond of nuts in baked goods.
Very good….very moist. I added about 2 1/2 cups of figs, and probably could have added a bit more flour, it is moist and very good. I think its a little sweet, though my figs were very sweet too….taking that in mind, I’d cut the sugar a bit next time…frosting was delish. Alot like caramel….very yummy overall!
THE CAKE WAS WONDERFUL, A DENSE, MOIST, SPICE LIKE FLAVOR. I LIKED THE FROSTING, BUT THINK A CREAM CHEESE FROSTING WOULD WORK BETTER. THE CAKE IS SWEET AND THE CANDY LIKE TOPPING MADE IT A BIT TO SWEET. I THOUGHT THE SERVING SIZE FOR 18 WOULD BE TO MANY SLICES, BUT THIS CAKE IS RICH ENOUGH IT COULD SERVE 18 EASILY. EVERYONE REALLY ENJOYED THIS CAKE, AND THERE WERE FEW CRUMBS FOR OUR DOG TO LICK. I WOULD MAKE AGAIN , ALSO WOULD BE A NICE DESERT FOR A GROUP. I USED SOME FIGS OFF MY TREE, JUST NEED TO COOK SOME MORE UP NOW IN ANOTHER DISH. ENJOY THIS YUMMMY CAKE.
I used the cream cheese icing from a previous review and it turned out great! This is a delicious cake regardless of whether the person has a dislike of figs. You’re sure to impress with this one.
This is the biggest win! I have suitably impressed my roommates, neighbours, colleagues and friends. Everyone LOVES this recipe. NOTE to anyone trying out the icing for the first time. I was not expecting the icing to foam before turning rich brown. My judgment told me to turn down the heat, but I trusted the thermometer.
This recipe was excellent! I got many compliments, even from non fig lovers!
5 stars for the cake..the BEST spice cake I have ever had!!! I made a cream cheese frosting (2 c. powdered sugar, 1/4 c. butter, 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla) and it was absolutely the best cake. I <3 this cake!!!
Wonderful! This is my first time baking with fresh figs and this cake was moist and I loved the spices in it. Next time I might add more figs to get more fig taste, but overall quite delicious. Instead of the butter I used 1/2 cup of light olive oil and it was perfect. My 5 year old pronounced it his favorite and wants it for his birthday cake in a few months. The icing was fun to make. As soon as it turns rich golden brown I pulled it off the heat and beat it. It turned into a smooth carmel topping. I accidentally used salted butter and would not do that again. The cake would even be fine without the frosting as it is so moist, but it is fun to have. Great recipe!
my whole family really enjoyed this. as others have said, the fig taste is not overpowering, but for us that is a good thing! i was trying to find a way to use a bunch of figs given to me that were surplus from someone’s fig tree and had no idea what to do with them. this cake had great texture and was very moist. i made a different (and simpler!) glaze for the top but i think the cake would be just as good without a topping. thanks!!
Made this today…excellent cake. I skipped the icing and it’s wonderful as is, right out of the pan.
We loved this. It was a great spice cake although the fig flavor was subtle. We didn’t put any icing on it as a personal preference. The only modification I made was that I use half the cloves and nutmeg but added a little more cinnamon.
My parents have 2 fig trees and ever since I found this recipe several years ago, it is expected that I make a couple of these cakes during the season – the year I tried the fig upside down cake recipe, I was met with great disappointment! You really don’t get a big fig flavor from this cake, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you might want to try a different recipe. You get more of a spice cake taste with this. But, it is a very tasty cake, and a great way to use fresh figs. As for the icing, I don’t have a candy thermometer, so I just eyeball it by color. I usually leave it a little on thin side, that way it soaks into the cake and makes it super moist. Yum!!
A very good cake. We have fig trees so I am interested in trying new recipes to use them. I did however make the mistake of putting bought cream cheese frosting on it. I like (homemade) cream cheese frosting on carrot and spice cake and since this was similar I though it would work. But sometimes being lazy doesn’t work. I will try the frosting recipe given if I make it again. My husband said the cake was good – he did not like the frosting tho.
The husband went back for fourths. I didn’t have buttermilk, so I substituted plain milk mixed with my last two tablespoons of plain yogurt and about a teaspoon of lemon juice. It worked great.