Let Her Eat Cake: Hazelnut & Fig Frangipane Cake

I love frangipane and its sticky, almondy deliciousness: it's great in tarts and cakes alike. But sometimes there's such thing as too much almond. I was poking around in the pantry the other day (aka the overflowing shelf) and came across a glut of hazelnuts. Now, it's well known that toasted hazelnut is a thing of joy, so here's a cake that continues it with sweet, gooey figs honey into something that you can eat all day long. With greek yoghurt? That's breakfast. Mascarpone? Fine for lunch. With a cold glass of white wine? Dinner.

Fresh figs are a must when in season, but if you can't rustle any up, then check the tinned fruit section for tinned ones, they work just as well. Who knew?!

Hazelnut & Fig Frangipane Cake
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40-50 minutes
You will need:
For the cake:

• 100g hazelnuts
• 140g butter, softened
• 140g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 60g ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 nutmeg grated
• 60g self raising flour
• 4 fresh figs or 1/2 tin tinned figs

For the syrup: 

• 2 tbsp honey
• Splash of hot water
• Icing sugar and a few chopped hazelnuts, to decorate

Make it!

The cake:

1. Preheat oven to 160C / 325F / Gas Mark 3. Grease and line a 23cm round cake tin.
2. Place the hazelnuts in a dry saucepan and set over a medium heat to toast for around 5 minutes, shaking every so often to make sure they don't burn.
3. Tip out onto a clean tea towel and rub vigorously to remove the hazelnut skins. 
4. Use a hand-held blender or similar to finely grind the hazelnuts. Set aside.
5. Cream together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. 
6. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of ground hazelnuts with each.
7. Beat in the rest of the hazelnuts, almonds, vanilla and nutmeg. 
8. Gently stir in the flour until just combined. 
9. Spoon the mixture into the tin.
10. Slice the figs into halves or quarters depending on size and press gently, face-up, into the mixture. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar. 
11. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. 
12. Cool in the tin for a few minutes.

The syrup:

1. Dilute the honey with a splash of hot water.
2. Poke a few holes in the cake whilst still warm and spoon over the syrup.
3. Dust with icing sugar and a few chopped, toasted hazelnuts and serve, preferably warm mascarpone or greek yoghurt.