Chocolate, Fig and Stout Cake

 Happy St Patrick’s Day! To celebrate, I had to make a chocolate stout cake.  I also received some fresh figs from a colleague, so I checked to see if I could find a recipe with chocolate and stout and figs - and boom! Whole Foods Market came up with the goods with this recipe. Packed with chocolate and fresh figs, and with a full bodied richness from the stout, this cake is a winner.

I wanted it to be a celebratory cake, so I made the full recipe, in the knowledge I’d be catching up with friends so I could share. Here’s a close up of the figs inside, which have been sautéed in butter before being added to the cake:

Tempted? To make this cake, you will need:

175g + 25g butter

2 cups stout

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa

2 cups brown sugar

225g fresh figs, stemmed and quartered

1/8 teaspoon black pepper 

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups plain flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 10” springform pan and dust the insides with the 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, tapping out any excess.

In a medium sized saucepan, add the stout, 175g butter and 3/4 cup cocoa powder, and whisk over low heat until the butter melts. Add the sugar and whisk until dissolved.  Transfer to a large bowl to cool.

Melt the rest of the butter in a frypan over medium heat, and when it begins to sizzle, add the figs and season with salt and pepper. Cook the figs until they soften and begin to release their juices. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the figs to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cloves. In a jug, whisk together the eggs and vanilla.

Whisking continuously, mix the egg mixture slowly into the cooled cocoa mixture. Fold in the flour mixture, then fold through the chocolate chips.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, arrange the figs on top, then top with the rest of the batter.

Bake the cake in the oven  for 50 minutes to an hour, or until cooked through.

Allow the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the outer ring, and allow the cake to cool completely on thr pan base.

Before serving, dust the top of the cake with cocoa powder. Slice and serve.

Do you celebrate St Patricks Day? What will you be doing?