Figs are more than just dried fruit in my life.
Those of you who have been reading my blog here since the beginning (oh hello, 2008!), may recall posts where I would talk about my “friend” Josh. A few perceptive readers actually called me out on this in the comments. I insisted Josh and I were just friends (let’s be honest, it was mostly Josh insisting), and as such when we’d go out, we never went on dates. My dad started referring to them as figs. You know, like another dried fruit. Since then, fig recipes have always had significance in our lives. Which explains this delicious, decadent, dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan-friendly Sticky Fig Pudding Cake recipe in honour of this week of love.
The rest of the story is that somewhere in the summer of 2009 Josh and I transitioned from going on figs to going out on actual dates, and in 2012 we got married.
As for this cake. It’s a delicious take on the more traditional and more popular Sticky Date Pudding. For those of us who aren’t British or Australian (or wherever else they refer to cake as pudding), this is in fact cake. Just a really moist cake. And you can make it with figs as I’ve written it, or dates or apricots. You could probably even do it with raisins, but let’s be honest – no raisin ever made a dessert more delicious.
It seems pudding is commonly used to refer to dessert in general. There’s also a dessert called Figgy Pudding, which is actually a date and fig cake funnily enough. Also confusing is that pudding can refer to a savoury part of the meal. Feel free to offer a better explanation in the comments because it’s all very confusing to me.
What really, really matters here is that you can make any one of your favourite desserts healthfully by switching just a few ingredients. Whereas a typical ‘pudding’ cake would have white sugar, all-purpose white flour, cream or (gasp!) condensed milk, you can easily make this with real food ingredients, and that’s what I have done here. What I loved extra about this cake is that it’s so very moist and gooey, a rare thing for gluten-free baking.
And so, here I have for you a delicious cake that you should eat on your own, or with the ones you love most. Love is, after all, a sweet thing. Figs. Dates. And everything after.
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Sticky Fig Pudding Cake
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup toasted chopped pecans, divided
- ¾ cup coconut milk
- ¾ cup water
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 200 grams coarsely chopped figs (about 1.5 cups roughly chopped)
- ½ cup all purpose gluten-free flour
- ½ cup chickpea flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- In a dry pan, toast your pecans just until fragrant.
- Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9 inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a small pot combine coconut milk, water, coconut oil, coconut sugar, and chopped figs. Warm just until figs are rehydrated and sugar has dissolved.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, arrowroot starch, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
- Add wet ingredients from the pot and toasted pecans, and stir until well mixed.
- Pour batter into parchment lined baking dish and bake for 25 minutes or until slightly firm to the touch and an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.
- Serve with coconut ice cream or frozen coconut kefir
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
8 responses to “Sticky Fig Pudding Cake Recipe”
Was just wondering…figs, dates, apricots…what about high sugar content??? Someone who has to watch sugars (not diabetic-but my sugar levels were a bit high)can I eat them..I heard that soaking helps release some sugar!!!True or not?
Dried fruit does contain concentrated natural sugar. In this cake, there are also other ingredients that are going to bring down the load on our blood sugar, like fats, protein and fibre (even the dried fruit itself is high in fibre). You could try reducing the amount of dried fruit, but I haven’t tested it so I’m not sure how it will turn out. Or have a smaller piece if you’re concerned. I also think this cake is a treat, not an everyday item, and can be enjoyed as part of a whole food diet.
I can’t wait to try this! one question tho, if I’m using your GF flour blend recipe (with chickpea & rice flours & arrowroot starch), I still add the extra chickpea flour & arrowroot starch?
thx much.
Hello! This looks divine.
Did you use fresh or dried figs? Assuming fresh.
Also what’s the best sub for chickpea flour?
Thank you!
It was dried figs in this recipe. You could try oat flour or almond flour as a sub – by my recipes are flexible so I think other gluten-free options could work too (buckwheat, rice, sorghum, millet, etc).
Megan, this looks wonderful…wish I had picked up the figs I was looking at last night…but anyway! I beg to differ on your assessment of raisins. I love oatmeal raisin cookies. They are my favorite of all time, and I am a cookie lover. Also, my family has handed down a ‘plum(p) pudding recipe’ and it is spicy and fragrant and delicious and filled with raisins, large (over an inch long) raisins and is the centerpiece of the holiday dessert tables in our family. I inherited the tin it is made in, in a steam/water bath. Without Plum(p) Pudding, it just isn’t a holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas – especially, New Year’s) We have to have it at one if not all three.
So, yes, I enjoy figs. I adore dates, dried apricots, cranberries, and other fruits, but most of all, we use and enjoy raisins. :) Blessings!
★★★★★
Fair enough. We’ll have to agree to disagree. :)
Just the texture of this cake and the fact that it has figs in it has sold me. You did a great job. No doubt this is delicious. Thanks for sharing.