Fig and honey cake

Happy name day to all  women named Maria! Especially to my dear mother!
Today I wanted to celebrate my mom with a nice and special cake with all the ingredients that she loves: figs, honey, nuts, cinnamon and mascarpone.

And so,  I decided to try this cake recipe which  is easy to make are really quick. But most of all, delicious!

Here is a recipe that I found and adapted specially for my mommy's taste . You can change the filling with ricotta, you can add raisins or add your favorite nuts. Feel free to improvise and let me know how it went :)

INGREDIENTS: 

For cake:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½  teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3  eggs
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup milk
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 hand full of nuts

For filling:

• 1 ½ cups mascarpone cheese
• 3 tablespoons runny honey

To decorate:

• runny honey
• 4 big figs

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 170 C and oil an 8-inch square pan.
To prepare the cake, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda , salt and cinnamon.
Combine sugar and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer a medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. 

Reduce speed to low, and add olive oil and then milk in a slow stream.

Add flour mixture and stir just until combined. 

Rough fully chop the nuts and add half in the mixture.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and on top put the other half of nuts.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until  a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool completely.

In a bowl mix mascarpone cheese with honey.

Cut the cake into 2 equals parts.

Arrange  one part on your cake stand and pour over the mascarpone mixture. Using a knife or a spatula spread it evenly.  

Add the second part of the cake on top.

Drizzle with runny honey as much as you like and then decorate it with quarters of figs.

PHOTOS BY Emi Trasnitu.