Fig + Amaro Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
115 g unsalted butter
190 g all purpose flour
65 g almond flour
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
150 g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
180 g ricotta
8-10 fresh figs, cut in half
For the Fig + Amaro Mixture:
50 g brown sugar
100 g fig jam
4 tbsp amaro
Recipe
Begin by..
generously buttering a 9” cake tin and preheating your oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl combine your brown sugar, fig jam, and amaro with a spoon until a loose, almost caramel sauce like mixture forms. Set aside.
Brown your butter in a small saucepan. The water will sputter and evaporate in a fairly dramatic and orchestral fashion until you’re met with sweet silence and nutty milk solids. Transfer to a small bowl and place in the fridge until it comes back to room temperature.
Sift together your dry ingredients. Stir to combine and set aside.
With almost any recipe that calls for zest I like to activate the oils by rubbing it into the sugar with my fingers. This will make it infinitely more fragrant. Then cream together your orange sugar and brown butter for 3-5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of your bowl before adding your eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add your vanilla before lowering the speed and beating in half of your dry ingredients. Followed by your ricotta, then the last of your dry ingredients until just combined and airy.
Pour the fig jam and amaro mixture across the bottom of the cake tin. Cut your figs in half and arrange in a concentric pattern, Gently pour your batter over the figs and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until light golden brown. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before inverting onto your serving plate. Revealing the now transformed, jammy figs.
