fig, yoghurt and almond loaf

fig, yoghurt and almond loaf

• 15 Mar 2021

It's fig season in Sydney, so when one of my colleagues bought in a bag of organic figs I snaffled a few. Originally this was going to be a fig and mascarpone cake until I spied an Ottolenghi recipe for a fig, yoghurt and almond loaf. 

I brought the cake in for a work birthday morning tea, all gussied up.

I'd love to claim the idea of decorating the loaf with yoghurt, figs, flaked almonds, honey and mint as my own but I borrowed the idea from here.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a small loaf or an 8 inch round cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Fig Yoghurt and Almond Loaf, inspired by Ottolenghi

Ingredients
133g unsalted butter
133g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla paste or extract
2 tbs thick cut orange marmalade
2 eggs, lightly beaten
120g almond meal
67g plain flour or GF plain flour
¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp baking powder
67g Greek yoghurt
3 figs, chopped into 1 cm pieces

To decorate
6 figs, some halved, some quartered
½ cup plain Greek yoghurt, drained
1 tbsp toasted flaked almonds
1 tbsp small mint leaves (optional)
2 tbsp clear honey

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. Line the bottom and sides of a small loaf tin with baking paper. Put the butter, sugar, vanilla paste and marmalade in an electric mixer bowl, and use a beater to work them well until they turn light and pale. Beat the eggs lightly, then, with the machine on medium speed, add them gradually to the bowl, just a dribble at a time, adding more only once the previous addition is fully incorporated. Once all the egg is in, mix together the almond meal, flour, salt, and baking powder and fold into the batter. Mix until the batter is smooth, then fold in the yoghurt and the chopped figs. You can also make the batter in a food processor, transferring the batter into a bowl before folding in the chopped fig pieces.

Pour the batter into the lined tin and level roughly with a palette knife or a spoon. Reduce the heat immediately to 175°C, conventional and bake for about an hour until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely before taking it out of the tin.

When cool, spread the yoghurt on top of the cake. Top with the figs, flaked almonds and mint leaves (if using) and drizzle with the honey. Best eaten on the day it’s decorated, but the undecorated cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

So how was it? As you'd expect from Ottolenghi, the cake was simply delicious.

I've been busy baking for Passover week 2021 so next week expect 5 days of Passover bakes, which I'm hoping you'll all enjoy whether you observe Passover or not.

See you all again next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian