Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 3 cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon lemon flavoring
- 1½ cups California Dried Figs, cooked with water until softened, sliced thin
- ½ cup chopped nuts
- Your favorite cake frosting, if desired
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch cake pan with cooking oil or shortening. (Alternatively, the cake can be baked in 2, 9-inch round cake pans.)
In large bowl, cream sugar and shortening together until light in color and well blended, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and syrup.
Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with adding the buttermilk to sugar mixture, mixing on low between additions.
Stir in lemon flavoring, 1 cup sliced figs, and nuts. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Place the remaining fig slices over the surface of the cake. (See Cook’s Note.) Bake 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing to serve. Frost, if desired.
Cook's Note:
For visible figs on the surface of the cake (a nice touch if you do not plan to frost the cake), reserve some slices to carefully place on the cake halfway through its baking time. This will prevent them from sinking into the cake and disappearing during baking.