Almond Olive Oil Cake with Homemade Fig Jam

I have been making this cake for years, and we absolutely love it. The almond flour/all-purpose flour blend gives this cake structure and texture, and the olive oil provides a fruity undertone while keeping the cake nice and moist. I thought this would be the perfect time to share this recipe because it is now fig season. This cake is great on its own, but paired with a homemade fig jam?!? Forget it. This dairy-free recipe can easily be made gluten-free by swapping the all-purpose flour for a GF 1:1 substitute. I love this recipe so much and am so happy to share it with you all. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 4 large eggs

• 1 1/4 cups cane sugar

• 3/4 tsp almond extract

• 1/2 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil (I like Graza)

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (can sub GF 1:1)

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 1/8 tsp baking soda

• Optional: powdered sugar and slivered almonds for serving

Fig Jam:

• 1 lb purple or brown ripe figs, stems removed and sliced in half

• 3/4 cup cane sugar

• juice of 1 lemon

• 1/4 cup water

Method:

For the cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 300°F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan with olive oil and set it to the side. You can line this with parchment paper as well.

2. Place the eggs, cane sugar, and almond extract in a large mixing bowl. Using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, whisk the ingredients together on medium-low until pale yellow and frothy—about 2 minutes. Slowly stream in your olive oil while continuing to whisk. Do this just until the olive oil is fully combined.

3. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, until just combined. Pour into your cake pan and spread evenly. Bake for 40 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden or a toothpick comes out of the center clean.

4. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Then gently remove the cake and let it continue to cool on the wire rack until it has completely cooled.

5. To serve: Dust the cake with powdered sugar and sprinkle on some slivered almonds. Serve with a side of homemade fig jam. Enjoy!

For the jam:

1. Place the figs and cane sugar together in a large saucepan. Let the figs and the sugar work together for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. *Just a reminder, this is OFF heat. We are letting the sugar break down the figs and release the juices—this is a process called maceration. The sugar should be mostly dissolved.

2. After 15 minutes, add in the lemon juice and the water. Stir to combine.

3. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until you reach a thick consistency (it should be thick enough that it takes a little bit to slide off the spoon.)

4. Let cool to room temp in your desired containers and then refrigerate. This should keep for a couple weeks. Enjoy!