Fig Cake Recipe with Mascarpone and Pistachios

This fig cake is a tender butter cake sweetened with honey and made soft with Greek yogurt and almond flour, then spread with whipped mascarpone and crowned with fresh figs and pistachios. It bakes in a 9 inch springform pan at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes and cuts into 10 to 12 slices.

The figs go on raw, after the cake is completely cold. That keeps them bright and juicy and stops the mascarpone from melting into the crumb.

What Goes Into the Batter

Start with soft butter. I let mine sit out for a full hour before creaming. It should take a light fingerprint without looking greasy. Cold butter will not hold air. Melted butter makes a heavy, oily cake.

Honey does two jobs here. It adds a floral sweetness that sits well next to figs. It also keeps the crumb moist. I have baked this with clover and with wildflower honey, and the wildflower gave a deeper flavor with the mascarpone. Skip strong honeys such as buckwheat, which drown out the fruit.

Greek yogurt brings tang and moisture, and the milk loosens the batter so it rises evenly. Half a cup of almond flour next to the 2 cups of all-purpose flour gives a richer, slightly denser slice. The cake still works with all-purpose flour only, it just tastes plainer. Spoon the flour into the cup and level it; a packed cup of flour is the quickest way to a dry fig cake.

Choosing Figs for the Top

You need 6 to 8 fresh figs, and Black Mission and Brown Turkey are the ones most shops sell, and both look striking cut open. A ripe fig gives a little when you press it, smells sweet at the stem, and may have a few fine cracks in the skin. Hard figs taste flat. Very soft figs that smell sour or leak at the bottom will collapse on the cake.

Quarter them from stem to base only when you are ready to top the cake. Cut figs weep. Within an hour or two their juice runs into the mascarpone.

Mixing and Baking the Cake

Beat the butter, sugar and honey for about 3 minutes, until the mixture turns from golden to pale and fluffy. That air is what lifts the cake, so do not cut this short. Eggs go in one at a time, followed by the yogurt, milk and vanilla.

The batter will probably look split now. Keep going: it comes back together as soon as the flour goes in. Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and fold them in by hand, stopping as soon as you see no dry streaks. Overmixing gives a tight, chewy crumb.

Smooth the batter into a greased, parchment-lined 9 inch springform pan and bake at 350°F (175°C). Start checking at 40 minutes. The cake is done when the top is golden, springs back when pressed, and a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Honey browns faster than sugar. If the top is already deep brown at 30 to 35 minutes while the middle still wobbles, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the pan for the rest of the bake. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, release the ring, then let it cool completely on a rack, about 45 minutes or longer. Any warmth left in the cake will melt the topping.

Whipping the Mascarpone Topping

The topping is 1 cup of mascarpone, 3 tablespoons of honey and ¼ cup of heavy cream, beaten until it holds soft peaks. Use the mascarpone straight from the fridge and beat on medium speed. Then stop. Mascarpone is very high in fat, and if it is warm or beaten too long it turns grainy and starts to weep. Grainy already? Fold in a spoonful of cold cream by hand and stop beating. For piped decorations instead of a spread top, see my mascarpone frosting.

Spread the topping over the cold cake, leaving a little edge of crumb showing. Arrange the fig quarters in rings from the outside in and press each one gently so it stays put. Finish with a thin drizzle of honey and the ¼ cup of chopped pistachios. If you love the fig and pistachio pairing, the nuts also star in this lemon pistachio cake.

Honey or Maple Syrup?

I have made this recipe with both, and honey gives a firmer, moister crumb and brings out the fig flavor. Maple syrup made the cake softer and added a woody note that clashed with the mascarpone, so honey stays in the batter and in the topping. If you only have mild supermarket honey, that is fine; a local raw honey adds more flavor without taking over.

Baking Figs Into the Cake Instead

Many fig cakes bake the fruit right into the batter, and this one can work that way too. Halve 6 to 8 figs and press them cut side up into the top of the batter just before it goes into the oven. They sink a little and turn soft and jammy. The fruit adds moisture, so expect a few extra minutes in the oven and test the cake between the figs, not through one.

With baked figs, skip the mascarpone and fresh fig topping and serve the cake with a spoonful of mascarpone on the side, or brush the warm top with a little warmed fig preserves for shine.

Make Ahead and Leftovers

Bake the plain cake up to a day ahead, let it cool, wrap it tightly and leave it at room temperature. Whip the topping and cut the figs no more than 2 hours before serving, then assemble. I have served it both ways, baked the same morning and baked the day before, and with the topping added late it looked fresh either time.

Once topped, keep the cake in the fridge in a covered container and eat it within about a day. After that the figs soften and release juice into the cream. A chilled slice cuts cleanest. Give it 20 minutes at room temperature before serving so the mascarpone softens.

Out of fig season, the same honey and almond idea works with fruit you can find all autumn in this pear cake, or with a lemony top in my lemon mascarpone cake.

Fig Cake Questions

Can I use dried figs?

Not on top. Chopped dried figs can go into the batter if you soak them in hot water for 10 minutes and pat them dry first. For a fig flavor all year, swirl a spoonful of fig and walnut jam into the mascarpone.

Can I bake it in a regular cake pan?

Yes. Use a 9 inch round pan at least 2 inches deep. Line the bottom with parchment and let the cake cool for 10 minutes before turning it out. A springform is simply easier, because the topped cake never has to be flipped.

Should the pistachios be salted?

Unsalted ones are best. A few salted ones are fine if that is what you have, since the honey topping can carry a little salt.

Pin this fig cake to your cake board so it is there when figs show up at the market. If you bake it, tell me in the comments which figs you used and whether you topped it fresh or baked them in.