Fig Spice Cake (no photo)

OK, let me first explain the reason for the "No Photo" line.   I had made two beautiful layers of a cake I fashioned from a couple of recipes.  Jim and I had lunch at "212" the other day and for dessert he ordered a spice cake with figs.  A wonderful autumn dessert.  On the line of a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  Since my last fig recipe, I still had about a dozen left and thought I'd try to come up with a recipe to use them in a spice cake.  I just love the little crunch/snap of those fig seeds in each bite.  So searching through the internet, I settled on primary recipe from Epicurious.com.  This recipe didn't include the fresh figs and called for pecans instead of walnuts, so I perused a few other recipes to figure out how much of each I should add.  And I think I came up with the perfect recipe.

So back to the "No Photo" part of this story.  I had just baked two perfect-looking 8" spice cakes.  I had them on the dining room table getting ready to invert them to the wire racks to cool.  Just as I was turning the first cake, my elbow bumped the second cake and "BLAM!!!!!!!"  right onto the floor.  The second cake kinda crumbled.   Lindie bounded to the scene of the accident hoping to come to immediate assistance.  I was able to keep her at bay for a few minutes, enough time to try to salvage half of the cake.  Since the cake was still warm, it broke up a bit, but I took the non-floor/fur-touched cake and kind of smooshed it back into the cake pan.  I then put that in the freezer for about 15 minutes to reform, then gently inverted it back onto the cake plate.  Amazingly, it stayed together.  After frosting the top of that layer, I then cut the good cake piece into two pieces and, after cooling, ended up making a three-layer cake.

So goes the saga of my Fig Spice Cake.  I hope to make it again and insert a decent photo.  Regardless, the recipe will remain the same.  It is a keeper.

A few notes:  the Epicurious recipe which I will list below (with the inclusion of the figs and walnuts) calls for using 9" cake pans.  My cake pans are 8" so instead of the 30-35 minutes baking time, mine took about 38-40 minutes.   Also, you can make the frosting the day before, just let it come to room temperature before icing the cake to make the spread much easier.  Also, I tend to go a bit lighter on icing, so I would just make 2/3 of this recipe.  If you like it really sweet, keep it as it is.

FIG SPICE LAYER CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

For Cake:
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cups) unsalted butter, cut into 1" pieces and softened
2 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temp for 30 minutes
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups, about 12 fresh figs (I used Black Mission Figs), finely chopped

For Frosting:
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp finely grated fresh lemon zest
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350.  Butter the flour cake pans, knocking out excess flour.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices into a large bowl.

Beat together butter (1 1/2 sticks) and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer (fitted with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla.  Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and sour cream alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.  Mix in walnuts and figs until just combined.

Spoon batter evenly into pans, smoothing tops, then rap pans once or twice to expel any air bubbles.  Bake until pale golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean, 30-35 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes in pans on racks.  Run a thin kinife around edge of pans, then invert racks over pans and reinvert cakes onto racks to cool completely.

Make Frosting:
Beat together cream cheese, butter, and zest in a bowl with clean beaters at medium-high speed until fluffly, 1-2 minutes.  Sift in confectioner's sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined, then add lemon juice and beat a medium-high speed until frosting is smooth.

Assemble and Frost Cakes:
Halve each cake layer horizontally with a long serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion.  Put one layer, cut side up, on a cake stand or large plate and spread with about 3/4 cup frosting.  Stack remaining cake layers, spreading abourt 3/4 cup frosting on each layer and ending with top cake layer cut side down.  Spread top and side of cake with remaining frosting.  NOTE:  You can adhere additional chopped walnuts to the sides of the cake, gently pressing to help them adhere.