Fig and Date Celebration Cakes

Cute little Xmas trees! The pans were cardboard ones from Wheel & Barrow

I always like the idea of fruit cake at Christmas time, but then on trying some each year remember that I absolutely cannot stand the rich flavour of fruit cake and I definitely do not like glace cherries at all! Nor am I too fond of big chunks of fruit peel in my cake. And I would much rather drink alcohol than drown my cake in it! So this year I was looking for an alternative to make, something that had the festive feel of fruit cake without all the things I dislike. I found a recipe in a Donna Hay magazine and adapted it to my liking. I made this as four little cakes but you can make it in one big pan if you like. Also, I know I made it for Christmas but I am pretty sure it would be tasty at anytime of year (but maybe not in the shape of a Christmas Tree!).

Such yummy looking ingredients!

Cake Ingredients ~

• 1/4 cup fresh dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup dried figs, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup self raising flour
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup
• 1/4 cup pistachios (raw and not salted!), roughly chopped

To Bake ~

1. Preheat the oven to 160 deg C. 
2. In a small bowl put the dates, figs, bicarb soda and boiling water to soak for ten mins or so. 
3. Place the butter, vanilla and sugar in an electric mixer on medium speed and beat for 20 mins. Scrape down the sides occasionally. It is best if you use a mixer you can walk away from otherwise you will have a sore arm! And yes the 20mins really does make a difference!
4. Meanwhile put the date and fig mix into a food processor or blender and whiz until it looks like a paste. 
5. Back to the cake batter: after 20 mins add the eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition. Then sift in the flour and add the almond meal, golden syrup and pistachios. Beat on low speed until well combined. 
6. Stir the date and fig paste into the cake mixture. 
7. Pour the cake mixture into greased and lined pan(s). Use a 20cm round pan if using one. Or use multiple small pans - just keep an eye on them while cooking!
8. If using one pan bake for ~45 mins and cool in the pan for ten mins. It is ready when a skewer comes out clean. I used four pans and it took 35 mins in the oven. 
9. Ice and decorate as desired.

My un-iced cakes - they made the kitchen smell so nice!

Icing Ingredients ~

• 100g cream cheese
• 25g unsalted butter
• 2-3 heaped tsp icing sugar (sifted)

To Make ~

1. Put all ingredient into a mixer and blitz until smooth. You can add more icing sugar if you like your icing sweeter.

To Decorate ~

I iced the two of the cakes and decorated with pistachios that had been dusted with edible silver dust. The other two cakes I simple dusted in icing sugar. They tasted great both ways.