This is a moist and delicious cake sweetened with fig jam and topped with a tangy buttermilk glaze. It’s lovely for dessert, mid-afternoon snack, or even breakfast!
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Our family loves to vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Ocracoke Island is at the southern end of the Banks and fig trees are abundant there. It was such a pleasure to learn about their beloved Ocracoke Island fig cake and to create a fig cake recipe of my own!
The first ever Ocracoke Fig Cake Bake-Off was held in 2012, and this annual competition continues today, with entrants creating cakes for the “Traditional” or “Innovative” categories. The cakes are judged on presentation, taste and my favorite: figginess! To learn more about the festival, which happens in during the month of August, click here!
Why you’ll love it
This is a rich, moist cake full of dried fig flavor! It’s a wonderful cake to have at breakfast, bring to a special brunch or for a midday snack.
The figs are transformed into a quicky fig jam. This jam plus a buttermilk glaze ensure that the cake is very moist and full of flavor.
How to make this recipe
Step 1: Make the quicky fig jam
Combine chopped, dried figs with sugar, lemon and water in a saucepan. Simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes until it’s thick. Let it cool.
Step 2: Make the cake batter
Beat the eggs in a mixer until they’re frothy, then blend in sugar and oil. Mix the dry ingredients – flour, spices, and baking soda, in a separate bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture in batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix in the quicky fig jam.
Step 3: Fill the pan and bake
Pour the batter into a greased and floured tube or Bundt pan. Bake the cake for about an hour.
Step 4: Make the glaze
While the cake bakes, make the glaze on the stovetop by combining buttermilk, sugar, butter and dry ingredients. Bring it to a boil, Remove it from the heat, add vanilla, and hold it aside for the cake.
Step 5: Glaze and serve the cake
Invert the baked and slightly cooled cake onto a serving platter. Pour the warm glaze over the top. Slice the cake and serve.
Tips
- In traditional fig cakes you may see the recipe call for fig preserves. In this recipe the quicky fig jam takes the place of those preserves. Because the jam is made fresh by you it’s very moist which is perfect for this cake.
- Traditional fig cakes may also call for walnuts. We have no walnut fans in our house so I don’t use them. If you are a walnut fan, you can add a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the batter before baking.
FAQs
This recipe has not been tested with fresh figs, so plan on using dried figs. Fresh figs have more moisture than dried so the quicky fig jam would not cook up the same way with fresh – and the final cake would be affected.
Yes! Substitute 1-1/2 cups of store-bought or your own homemade fig jam if you’d like.
The Ocracoke Island Fig Cake recipe is below! Here are more recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth:
*** Did you try this Fig Cake? Did it win you First Prize in the Fig Cake Bake-Off? (I hope so!) Leave a comment and star rating below!!
Ocracoke Island Fig Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1-1/2 cups finely chopped dried figs, pitted & stems removed (use about 8 ounces of whole dried figs to yield 1-1/2 cups of chopped figs)
- 2 cups granulated sugar, divided
- 2 slices of lemon
- 2/3 cup water
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda, divided
- 1 cup buttermilk, divided
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Make the quicky fig jam:
- Place the chopped figs in a medium-sized saucepan and stir them together with 1/2 cup of the sugar, the lemon slices and the 2/3 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Cover and simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes until it is thickened, stirring it often to prevent the figs from sticking to the bottom. Remove the pan from heat and discard the lemon slices. Pour the contents into a heatproof bowl and allow the jam to cool. This will make about 1-1/2 cups (13 ounces) of quicky fig jam.
Make the cake batter:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10″ tube or Bundt pan.
- Beat the eggs in a stand mixer until they're frothy and light yellow. Add in 1 cup of the granulated sugar and the oil. Mix until everything is combined.
- Mix together in a separate bowl the flour, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, salt, black pepper and 1 teaspoon of the baking soda. Add the dry mix to the egg mixture in two or three additions, alternating with 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. Mix just until the ingredients are combined.
- Slowly mix the quicky fig jam into the batter. (If you're using walnuts, add them now.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it into an even layer.
- Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes until a tester inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove the pan to a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the glaze:
- Combine the remaining buttermilk, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, melted butter, corn starch and the remaining baking soda in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once it comes to a boil, immediately remove the pan from heat and keep stirring. It will be foamy and will escape the pan if not stirred! Stir in the vanilla and then let the glaze sit to wait for the cake.
Finish the cake:
- Have a serving platter ready for the cake: the platter should have enough room and high-enough edges to hold excess glaze.
- After the cake has cooled for 15 minutes, run a knife around the edges to loosen it from the pan. Invert the pan onto the serving platter and gently remove the pan from the cake.
- Pour the warm glaze evenly over the top of the still-warm cake.
- Allow the cake to cool for another 10-15 minutes. Then slice it and serve!
- Makes 10 generous slices
Notes
- In traditional fig cakes you may see the recipe call for fig preserves. In this recipe the quicky fig jam takes the place of those preserves. Because the jam is made fresh by you it’s very moist which is perfect for this cake.
- If you’d rather, you can use store-bought or your own fig jam/preserves. Use 1-1/2 cups of jam/preserves in the recipe, and skip the quicky fig jam directions.
- Traditional fig cakes may also call for walnuts. We have no walnut fans in our house so I don’t use them. If you are a walnut fan, you can add a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the batter before baking.
- This recipe has not been tested with fresh figs, so plan on using dried figs. Fresh figs have more moisture than dried so the quicky fig jam would not cook up the same way with fresh – and the final cake would be affected.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in April of 2013. Updated September 15, 2019.
Can you freeze this cake?
Hi Hilary! I haven’t frozen my fig cakes (we eat them too fast 😁) but I did a little research and yes, you can freeze it. Don’t add the glaze – just wrap the cooled, baked plain cake well and then freeze it. Let the cake thaw at room temperature still wrapped. Warm it in the oven and then add the glaze before serving.
Hi! I love figs – fresh and dried so I’ll be planning on making this recipe with my stock of dried figs. About how much figgy jam does the recipe make? I also happen to have fig jam on hand so I might be able to use that.
thanks for the lovely recipe!
jo
Hi Jo! I’m so glad to hear you’re going to try this cake. The recipe makes about 1-1/2 cups(a little over 13 ounces) of figgy jam. You can definitely use the fig jam you have on hand if you’d rather. I appreciate this question – this info will be helpful to others who make the recipe so I’ve added it into the recipe. When you make the cake, please let me know how it turned out for you! Thank you – Nancy
Sounds good. Walnuts optional – thank you for that.
It’s very good! Thank you
I’ve never eaten fig cake, but today I’m going to try My take on what it will taste like. Good luck to me. I give yours five stars
Aw thank you for this! If you like figs even a little I think you’re going to really like this cake! Please keep me posted when you try my recipe – let me know what you think!
OH.. one of my favorite foods… my mom made the best fig jam ! I just can’t wait to make this cake. Yep, dried figs will give the best deep flavor.
Thank you for sharing it.
Hi Abby, I bet your fig jam recipe would be amazing in this cake! When you make it let me know what you think. Thank you!
I’ve made this three times and love it! Can you make this with fresh figs instead of dried?
Marcy, I’m so happy to hear you’ve made and love my cake! To answer your question my understanding is fresh figs would not impart the same flavor as dried, and they would also affect the final result since they have so much more moisture. It would be better to dry or your fresh figs before using them in the cake. Thank you!!