Fig upside down cake

Eggless baking, Fusion cooking, Millet recipes, Recipes for children

Earlier elders in our family were of the opinion that baking cakes is a painstakingly strenuous procedure, and hence nobody in my family dared to bake cakes at home. We usually devour the cakes bought from the renowned bakery in our locality. During Christmas we had opportunities to relish home baked cakes like dark brown fruit cake, pale yellow semolina cake, etc. shared by our friends & neighbors. Those days home-baked cakes were so special for people like us as it was rare to find such soft scrumptious old-fashioned Christmas cakes even in the city’s premier bakery. Later we all bought the oven and bake spongy cakes at home even with local flavors. Here I have baked an eggless fig upside down cake using whole wheat flour & foxtail millet flour.

figcake-9-scaled Fig upside down cake
Fig cake

It is a cardamom-flavored fruit cake and the fruit glaze is prepared by caramelizing fresh figs in jaggery syrup and aromatic ghee. Generally, fruit cakes taste tantalizingly delicious when served with fruit-flavored ice cream, and this fig cake is no exception.

figcake-12 Fig upside down cake
Fig cake with mango ice cream

Fig upside down cake recipe:

I have baked this cake without maida (bleached flour), butter, refined sugar, and eggs. You can also check out my other eggless cake recipes here. Now the recipe for upside down fig cake is as below:

figcake-10-scaled Fig upside down cake
Athipalam cake

Dry ingredients:

  • 1 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup of millet flour (I used foxtail millet flour)
  • 1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp of baking soda
figcake-8-scaled Fig upside down cake
Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients:

  • 6 bananas (mashed into 1 and 1/2 cup of pulp)
  • 3/4 cup of powdered jaggery
  • 2 cardamoms (powdered)
  • 1/2 cup of neutral oil (I used sunflower oil)
figcake-6-scaled Fig upside down cake
figcake-5-scaled Fig upside down cake

Ingredients for fruit glaze:

  • 7 fresh figs
  • 1 tbsp of ghee
  • 1/4 cup of powdered jaggery
figcake-4-scaled Fig upside down cake
Fresh figs (athipalam)

How to prepare cake batter:

  • In a food processor add bananas, powdered jaggery, cardamom powder, and oil and blend together.
  • Sieve wheat flour, millet flour, baking powder & baking soda through a fine mesh.
  • Add banana mixture into the flour and mix well.
  • You may have to add 1/4 cup of water or milk to get the right consistency.
figcake-1 Fig upside down cake
Cake batter

How to bake cake in convection oven:

  • Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.
  • Cut figs into halves lengthwise after washing them.
  • Meanwhile heat a pan with ghee in medium flame.
  • Add powdered jaggery and stir until melted away.
  • Now place all the halved figs (cut sides facing down) over the syrup.
  • Cook them for few minutes until figs are nicely coated in the syrup and remove from heat.
figcake-3-scaled Fig upside down cake
Fig glaze
  • Pour the syrup into a 9″ round baking dish and arrange the figs cut sides down.
  • Spoon the cake batter over the syrup slowly without disturbing the arrangement of figs.
  • Place the cake dish inside the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
  • Remove from oven when a toothpick inserted comes out clean and leave aside until it cools down.
  • Run a knife around the cake to loosen it before inverting onto a serving plate.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature along with a dollop of ice cream.
figcake Fig upside down cake
Fig upside down cake recipe

Tips & Tweaks:

  • Fig cake tastes even more delicious if you pour jaggery syrup over the cake, so you can prepare the syrup in large quantity while sautéing figs & use the leftover syrup while serving.
  • We can add richness to this fruit cake by sprinkling chopped nuts into the syrup or by adding finely chopped figs into the batter.
  • You may add 50 ml of any fruit juice of your choice or a tsp of rose water into the syrup to enhance the flavor after removing from heat.
  • We need to adjust the quantity of jaggery according to the sweetness of banana, and also adjust the quantity of banana to get 1 and 1/2 cup of pulp.
  • I have kept the baking dish on a high roasting rack mainly for the beautiful brown color and hence I had to reduce the temperature to 170 degrees Celsius after some time to prevent the cake getting cracked on its surface. But you can safely bake at 180 degrees by placing the dish on the low baking rack.

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  11. I love following your blog because i can learn a lot in order to add an exotic atmosphere in my traditional italian cuisine. Thanks a lot for sharing ??

  14. mouthwatering! interesting how cooking methods vary culture to culture, owing to so many factors – US cooks do lots of baking (or rather ‘did’ before folks got too busy to stay home & cook)

  19. Oh my, Megala; how did I miss this scrumptious post and recipe. It looks divine and I’m sure it tastes delicious!
    Happy New Year! 🙂
    xoxoxo

  34. This looks interesting Megala, it turned out so perfect ! Adding figs must give it a unique taste. Happy holidays and new year to you !

  35. This looks so good. I am tempted to try to make this, but there is just something in me that says a cake should be full of eggs, butter and sugar!

    1. Yes, everyone has the same liking except vegans or vegetarians, and I’m glad to know that you like to try this recipe too. Thanks much, Tracey!

  36. Fantastic recipe! It has all the best parts of banana bread and figgy pudding all in one cake. It sounds like the perfect things to celebrate the season.

  38. Wonderful! Learning new things from you all the time. Figs in the cake! The natural sweetness from figs is nice in cake. What a clever idea.
    Upside down cake is very popular in United States. It is simple to make and very hearty in holidays!
    Happy New Year, Megala!

  41. Upside down cakes are so delicious. I usually bake mine with pineapples. The taste must be awesome with the figs and cardamom combo. Merry Christmas Megala!

  51. Too good! Loved the recipe… Saving it!
    Btw, in the video, I noticed that you have used the tall stand for baking. I use the short one for this purpose. Now, I am confused about which one to use as the taller one I use for grilling!

    1. Yes, you are right, high rack is used for roasting, but here I used mainly for the deep brown color, ideally we have to use low rack for baking cakes. 🙂
      Thanks much!

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