You know what the best part of being a food blogger is (apart from all the cooking and eating)? It is getting to know so many people across the globe who share the same passion as you do. And I’ve been lucky enough to find a few of them in my city itself! Now M (of For the Love of Food) and I barely know each other for a month, but when she baked some droolworthy Chocolate Brioche one day, she immediately decided to give me a call and invite me over for what she said, “Some Brioche over Coffee”. But I should have known better. When a food blogger calls you over for “Coffee”, she means Item A, B, C, D, E, F and of course coffee!
Thank heavens I reached her place on an empty stomach (I have this bad, bad habit of skipping breakfast because by the time I wake up, it’s way past breakfast time), because what I found laid on the table was a beautiful cheese tart, mouth-watering mince meat samosas with a delicious mint dip, crispy and buttery Langues de Chat, warm and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate brioche and of course a mason jar (that must have housed at least 500 ml) full of cold coffee. Need I say that for the entire stretch of 3 hours that I was at her place, I was sitting at the dining table with my plate in front of me?
Now greedy that I am, even after having a single round of everything I was craving for more. But my stomach has limited capacity (old age, I say!) and despite eyeing the third samosa a zillion times, I was not fully confident of my digestion abilities. What M did at this juncture was take a huge container and pack almost half her cheese tart, the remaining samosas and a brioche. I was embarrassed yes, but too excited to refuse. Oh, she also threw in some fresh yeast and made me promise I’ll start baking breads henceforth. Ha!
I did my little bit in return. Knowing that she likes tea cakes a lot, I baked for her a Lemon and Fig Cake. Now it was a gift and I should be immodest to speak very highly of it. But M kept on insisting that it was “perfect”. To borrow what she wrote on Facebook, “Pritha made this lip-smacking soft and delicious fig lime cake which is perfect.” Well, I guess coming from a finicky cook like her, that was the biggest compliment! So hopefully this recipe is worth sharing. 🙂
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients:
Flour: 175 gm
Caster Sugar: 125 gm
Butter: 75 gm
Olive oil: 75 ml
Eggs, in room temperature: 2
Milk: 1/4 cup
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Salt: a pinch
Lemon, both zest and juice: 1
Lime, both zest and juice: 1
Dried figs, roughly chopped: 12-15
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C and line a round cake tin or tart pan with baking parchment and brush the sides with butter/ oil.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. In a blender or with the help of a hand mixer, cream the butter, oil and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and continue blending. Add milk and blend again.
4. Put away the blender and in a mixing bowl fold in the flour gradually, not allowing the trapped air to escape.
5. Now add the lemon and lime juice, zest and half of the chopped figs.
6. Put the batter in the cake tin and sprinkle the remaining chopped figs on the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
7. Once the cake is done, allow it to cool on the wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Take it off the tin, cut into wedges and serve with tea/coffee, or for a fancier version with vanilla ice cream.
