Fig and Pumpkin Cake (Gluten Free!)
The mornings are darker and chillier, the perfect environment to wrap myself in a thick blanket and write all morning with a lukewarm coffee by my side. It’s perfectly (I’m not going to say “splendid”… Haunting of Bly Manor was terrible, right?) cozy and I hope this temperature never changes. As the days get shorter, I find that my work days ease up a bit. I’m powered by the Sun so the longer it’s out the longer I feel like working. Now, mornings are slow and mostly consist of writing, sketching, and boring computer related tasks. Or laying in bed and watching a morning a movie, those are the best work days! Then when the sun perks up I bake a little something to warm the house up a few degrees. It’s crazy to think that it was just 2 weeks ago we were experiencing heatwave 1294703287598327 of 2020 and could barely handle boiling water without being drenched in sweat. Hopefully by this time next year our new kitchen will be done and we’ll have modern temperature control, like A/C, so our lives aren’t so temperature sensitive.
Anyways, how have you been? Are the leaves changing color where you live? If you have orange leaves near you will you please send me a picture? The air around here is crisp and smells like Fall but the trees are just sort of brown and crunchy. It’s fine. I can’t wait to drive to New Jersey next month and hopefully catch the end of the East Coast foliage changing colors! Oh, did I mention we are road tripping across the country to see our families at the end of the year? We are! I’m excited but also a little nervous to leave our bubble because the farthest we’ve been away in months has been about 1 hour. Are people wearing masks in Arizona and Oklahoma? Gosh, I hope so…
Instead of being anxious about anti-mask confrontations, I’m just going to channel my energy into figuring out our road trip snack situation. I say we need 4 days worth of cake to keep our energy up and to accompany the copious amounts of coffee we’ll consume. Reuben will definitely disagree and say we don’t actually need any snacks at all… but I’m going to sneak a loaf cake or two in my bag anyways. He will thank me later.
Figs are my Jam!
Did someone say cake?! I’m so excited to share this Fig and Pumpkin Cake with you! And it’s gluten-free (a little more about that later)! I had a major craving for a pumpkin swiss roll with cream cheese frosting a few weeks ago and at the same time watched the Christina Tosi episode of the Chef Show where they assemble a Milk Bar style cake. So, like any other sane person, I grabbed my cake ring, roasted some squash, and got baking!
I also wanted to add another layer of flavor that was fresh and bright. Fall baked goods can feel really heavy… lots of spices, heavy on molasses and maple syrup, pounds of cream cheese. Our fig tree was (and still is) overflowing with ripe figs and I’m still forcing myself to enjoy eating them, so I incorporated them into the cake! I do have to admit that sliced figs are incredibly pretty. My favorite decoration for any baked good will always be fruit. They are already beautiful and you don’t need to mess around with piping tips and pastry bags.
I’ve made enough fig jam to start a fig jam company. I sort of prefer the flavor and texture of cooked figs than fresh ones. So in between the layers of spiced pumpkin cake and cream cheese frosting is fig jam flavored with vanilla, orange juice and zest, and a little brown sugar. The smell is absolutely amazing! Depending on how sweet and ripe your figs are, you can adjust the amount of brown sugar. Our figs are so sweet, so for 1 pound of figs I only use 1/4 cup of brown sugar. The pectin from the orange zest will help the jam thicken up without using a lot of sugar. I used about 2/3 of the jam in this cake and save the rest for toast or crackers and goat cheese. But feel free to double or even triple the fig jam recipe if you have a tree overflowing with them too!
Tender and moist Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cake
I mentioned earlier that the cake is actually gluten free! Reuben and I are trying our best to minimize our gluten intake because we just feel a little better that way. We save it for special occasions like dumplings, noodles, pizza, and our weekly sandwiches-for-dinner run. So I am by no means a gluten-free expert. I tend to turn to my friends Sarah (Snixy Kitchen) and Alanna (The Bojon Gourmet) for all things gluten-free because they are the queens! I trust them and their recipe so much. This pumpkin cake was actually adapted from Sarah’s Pumpkin Cake! I scaled up the recipe to make a full 8-inch tiered cake, messed around the spices and sugars, and used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour! This baking flour is incredible. It’s made with a blend of rice flours and starches. First ingredient is sweet rice flour aka mochiko! So it gives the cake a wonderful chewy texture, which I obviously love.
The key to gluten free baking is finding a blend or making a blend of your own with flours and starches that will best mimic the texture you want in your bakes. I remember baking gluten free bacon scones for Reuben for our first Valentine’s Day and they were so horrible. This was in 2015 and I used a gluten free flour blend from Trader Joe’s. The texture of the scones just felt like sand. I wasn’t sure if all gluten free things just had this texture so I gave them to Reuben anyways. They were even heart shaped! Reuben knew they were terrible after one bite but couldn’t bare to throw them out, so they just lingered in his freezer until we moved in together. Then last Christmas I used a blend that was heavy on chickpea flour for a gluten free skillet cookie cake and it just tasted like chocolate and chickpeas…
Let’s just say that I’ve learned my lesson and that this cake doesn’t taste like chickpeas or feel like a mouthful of sand! Sarah actually came over the other day to pick a million figs off our tree so I sent her off with a quarter of this cake and she approved!
Gluten Free fig and pumpkin cake (milk bar style)!
Once you have all the components ready: cake, frosting, fig jam (which is optional). Assembling the cake is so effortless. I’ve spent many hours stressing and crying over decorating cakes but this has make me into a milk bar style cake convert. Owning a cake ring and some acetate strips is so worth it if you’re making a lot of cakes but don’t want to spend your whole day piping buttercream flowers and crumb coating.
I especially love seeing all the layers! It’s like layers of the earth but made up of sugar instead.
The cake is delicately spiced and not too sweet because most of the sweetness is coming from the frosting and jam. It all works together so well. In a single bite, it has all the coziness of fall but with a touch of freshness from figs and tartness from cream cheese.
I hope to see this cake grace your counters and holiday tables!
Fig and Pumpkin Cake
Makes 1 8-inch cake
cake:
2 2/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour
1 tsp Bob’s Red Mill Xanthan Gum
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp chinese five spice powder
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
cream cheese frosting:
12 oz (1 1/2 blocks) cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Fig jam (recipe below), optional
Sliced figs, for topping
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large rimmed baking sheet (12x17-inch) with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine gluten-free flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, ginger, chinese five spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine pumpkin puree, yogurt, milk, oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low until smooth and just combined.
Transfer the batter to the baking sheet and spread into a thin even layer with an offset spatula. Bake until puffy and set in the center, 19 to 21 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack to fully cool.
While the cake cools, prepare the cream cheese frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cream cheese, butter, and salt. Mix on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until mostly incorporated. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix until smooth and fluffy.
To assemble the cake, run an offset spatula around the edges of the cake. Flip the sheet of cake onto the counter and peel off the parchment paper. Cut 2 full rounds and 2 half circles with the 8-inch cake ring. Save cake scraps for a snack. Line the cake ring with acetate and secure with tape. Place the cake ring over a cake board of serving platter.Place the two half rounds of cake at the base of the cake ring. Spread 1/3 of cream cheese frosting over the surface with the back of a spoon. Dollop or spread a little fig jam over the surface. Place another layer of cake and repeat the layering process until fully assembled. Cover the top of the cake with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 2 hours for the cake to set up. Once set, remove the cake ring and acetate. Top the cake with sliced fresh figs and serve.
Special equipment: You will need an 8-inch cake ring and acetate to achieve the Milk Bar style cake. Alternatively, you can divide the batter between two 8-inch round cake pans lined with parchment paper and bake until set in the middle, 22 to 25 minutes.
Fig Jam
1 lb fresh figs, sliced in half or quarters
1/4 cup brown sugar
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, combine figs, brown sugar, zest, juice, vanilla, and salt. Stir to combine and continue to simmer the figs until thick and jammy, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the jam to an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator until cool and set, up to 2 weeks.