Cole's Raspberry and Fig Cake

Hi! I am Cole, Kara’s guest blogger for the week while her kitchen is undergoing an Extreme Makeover! Since it's cold outside and we live in Minnesota, I figured I should make a dessert that represents the great Scandinavian culture that surrounds us 9 months out of the year. This Raspberry and Fig Cake is a big favorite of my boyfriend Nick and mine.  The great thing is that it can be enjoyed with coffee or your favorite dessert wine (I suggest a Riesling or a Moscato, yum!).

** WARNING: This cake is not for the figure conscious, but for those who don’t mind. . .there is a stick of butter and 1 ½ cups of sugar in their cake.

Raspberry and Fig Cake
Adapted from Food and Wine, March 2010
Ingredients
Dry bread crumbs, for dusting (crumble 2 pieces of whole grain bread, bake at 400 for 5-8 min.)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (I use Splenda sugar)
3 large eggs (I use Omega 3 brown eggs)
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
Finely grated zest of 3 limes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 pint raspberries
4 figs, cut into eighths (I use California style figs)
 *additional 1/2 pint raspberries
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch cake pan (I personally use my pampered chef round stone cake pan) and coat with bread crumbs. In a bowl, using a handheld mixer beat the sugar and eggs at high speed until fluffy, 2 minutes at the most. Beat in the butter and 2/3 of the lime zest. Lastly, at low speed, alternately beat in the flour and lime juice until almost completely mixed.

Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the surface. Gently press in the raspberries and figs (* if figs are not in season you can replace them with an additional ½ pint of raspberries).

Bake the cake on the bottom third of the oven for 40 minutes. Transfer to the upper third of the oven and continue baking for 35 minutes longer, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with a few crumbs attached.

Transfer the cake to a rack to cool. Run a thin knife around the edge of the cake pan to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan.

Dust the cake with confectioners' sugar. Sprinkle with the remaining lime zest, cut into wedges and serve.

I promise you will love this cake!  It’s a little sweet, a little tangy, and a whole lot of moist goodness!