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Are you a fan of baking with Olive Oils?

In my years of amateur baking, I have found that using Olive Oils produce much denser and heavier cakes with more fragrance.

To date, I have found a new love with baking with Olive Oil. Especially Olive Oils from Spain.

Having travelled to Spain on our Honeymoon, The Boy and I have bottles of Olive Oils from Spain in our pantry ready to be used for special baking events!

It was then to my delight, that I was recently contacted by Olive Oils from Spain to convey the Spanish lifestyle and Mediterranean Diet as an idea that is exciting to global audiences. They wanted me to come up with a recipe utilising Olive Oils from Spain in a post to promote them. Follow their website for more information, recipes and lifestyle tips using Olive Oils from España!

It wasn’t hard for me to settle that I would be coming up with a dessert recipe instead of the savoury option that most people would come up with in the first instance! So with The Boy taking a back seat in the recipe development stage, I rolled up my sleeves and put my thinking cap on and came up with a Coconut and Fig Olive Oil cake recipe based on my previous baking success using olive oil (Lime, Coconut and Olive Oil Cake).

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This recipe yielded a most delicious cake that went really well with a strong black coffee or green tea (separately, of course). I had it with both. It was amazing!

Trust me, bake this and you won’t regret it!

The one reason why I wanted to showcase a baking recipe utilising Olive Oils from Spain is to challenge people’s ideas and assumptions about olive oils and that it can only be associated to savoury foods or as a bread dip.

Baking and cooking with it has many benefits. So many that I’m not going to list them here, but you can read more about it here.

To be honest, you just end up with a very high quality cake that is not compromised in flavour in any way!

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The reason why I wanted to use figs in this cake is because it’s fig season at the moment and these beautiful fruits are gorgeous, sweet and exploding with flavour!

Why did I choose to pair it with coconut milk? Why, not?

Olive Oils from Spain. Check!

Figs. Check!

Coconut Milk. Check!

This is practically a healthy salad on a cake stand that helps lower cholesterol and high blood pressure. Winning!

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Coconut & Fig Olive Oil Cake Recipe

Ingredients

  • 225 grams (1/2 cup) of All Purpose Flour
  • 180 grams (3/4 cup) of Caster Sugar
  • 40 grams of Toasted Coconut Crumbs*
  • 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder
  • 2 Eggs beaten
  • 100 ml (1/3 cup) Olive Oil from Spain
  • 165 ml of Coconut Milk + enough Full Cream Milk to top the Coconut Milk to 1 cup
  • 1 Fig skinned and roughly chopped up

For the Coconut Whipped Cream:

  • 250 ml (1 can) of Coconut Milk (the higher the percentage of coconut milk, the better. I used Ayam Brand's Coconut Milk as it's >80% coconut, you can use their Coconut Cream as well as that is 100%)
  • 2 teaspoons of Caster Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Bean Paste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celcius.
  • Grease and line a round springform pan (22cm) with baking paper and set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk all wet ingredients together.
  • Pour in the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix it in with the spoon, making sure to not overwork the batter.
  • Stir in the chopped fig.
  • Pour batter into the prepared springform pan making sure to bang the baking tin on the counter top a few times to release any trapped air bubbles.
  • Place in the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes. To check if the cake has cooked, simply insert a skewer in the middle, if it comes out clean, it's ready.
  • The top of the cake should be a lovely golden brown.
  • Set aside on a wire rack and leave it to cool in the baking tin for 5 minutes before releasing the sides.
  • Cool completely before the next step.

For the Coconut Whipped Cream:

  • To find out how to make the coconut whipped cream, I used the recipe from Oh She Glows.
  • It is crucial that the cake is 100% cooled before you start layering the coconut whipped cream onto the cake, else it'll start melting (like mine did as I was impatient!).
  • Once the coconut cream has been whipped, simply use a palette knife to cover the cake with it.
  • To serve, slice up some fresh figs and garnish as you wish.

Notes

*Note: I used a generic brand toasted coconut chips packet, which I then pulsed in a coffee grinder until it yielded a powder/crumb like consistency

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I set the cake aside in the fridge to keep cool from the harsh humid weather we’ve been having.

If serving on a different day, remember to take it out of the fridge and let it rest for an hour to come back down to room temperature before serving.

Serve with iced-green tea or a strong black coffee!

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My workmates loved the cake I brought them and couldn’t wait to have it for both morning and afternoon tea!

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[This post is sponsored by Taste Our Lifestyle]