These Fig and Cardamom Tea cakes are a fig wrapped in a French tea cake called a “financier.” The cake does a spectacular job at highlighting the sweet, juicy flavors of the fig inside.
Someday I will have a giant fig tree in my backyard. It’ll produce tons of figs and I’ll be able to just pluck figs off a branch and eat them all summer long. I love the sweet and slightly tangy flavor of figs. And I absolutely love that they’re in season right now.
We had one fig tree on my family’s farm in India when I was a kid. I remember the fig season always seemed way too short.
I love figs so much I try not to do much to change them when I have them. My favorite thing to do with them is to slice them in half, add a little sugar, brulee that and then add a thin slice of Pecorino cheese to the top.
Sometimes I’ll splash a little balsamic vinegar on top too if I’m in the mood. This was my first time making these Fig and Cardamom Tea Cakes.
I usually make do with store bought and farmers market figs. But I do have a little fig plant growing on my balcony that my parents gave to me. It’s one of only four plants I own – the other three are all herbs.
My little fig will probably take years to mature enough to produce fruit. And the chances are good it may not live that long. I often forget to water the little guy. But isn’t stress supposed to good for plants? Well I know it is for wine grapes, so here’s hoping the same is true for figs!
A couple of months ago I met a woman at a party who brought loquats to share. We got to talking and she told me her mom had both a loquat and a fig tree and that they always had way too much fruit. She offered me some fresh fruit if I wanted. Of course I wanted the figs! Since the figs weren’t ripe yet, we promised to stay in touch.
I forgot all about it until this week. I suddenly remembered my new friend and texted her on the off chance that the offer was still good. It was! I picked up a bag of delicious, tree ripened fresh figs. Honestly, they are some of the sweetest figs I’ve ever had, and so big. Thank you so much KQ!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup ground almonds (I just grind them in my food processor)
- 1/4 cup rice flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated)
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 4 egg whites
- 6 fresh figs (cut into half)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Butter the insides of a muffin tray lightly and set inside.
- Heat the butter in a small saute pan until it turns medium brown. Keep an eye on it, it can burn fast! Turn off the heat and set aside.
- In a food processor, pulse together ground almonds, powdered sugar, rice flour, salt, cardamom, nutmeg and lemon zest.
- Add the egg whites and pulse a few times until blended. (It only took me 3 pulses)
- Add the browned butter and pulse a few more times until the mixture is well blended and smooth. (Took me 5 pulses this time)
- Divide the batter into the muffin cups. It took 3 tablespoons per muffin cup for me, yes I counted.
- Top each cup with half of a fig and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tray. Remove and cool on a cooling rack.
Notes:
If you don’t have a food processor, it’s very easy to do with a stand mixer or hand held beater as well. Instead of pulsing, just beat at medium speed until well blended. You can also just use a whisk and some muscle.
I think I’ll add a little black pepper the next time I make these. I think the flavor combination would be really yummy.
Steve ate two as soon as they came out of the oven and then took a third one and headed into the kitchen. He came out with a torch and some sugar to brulee the fig on top. It tastes pretty great with a bruleed fig too!
This recipe is adapted from Tartelette.
