Last week my mother took me to meet Cordelia, a second cousin twice-removed. Cordelia had been orphaned when she was young and at one point lived with Mollie Gates Oakes, my great-great-great aunt. Mollie had a fig bush and would make preserves with the fruit. Cordelia took cuttings from Aunt Mollie’s fig bush and for years and years had her own fig bush. Cordelia’s eyes lit up as she told us about Aunt Mollie’s fig preserves. She even shared the super secret recipe and how to know when the preserves were ready to be put into a jar.
I haven’t made fig preserves yet, but I will at some point in the near future. Until then I have to rely on other’s fig preserves.
Fig Pound Cake
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening (or an additional stick of butter)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup whole milk or buttermilk
3 cups flour
1 cup fig preserves
Preheat oven to 325*F. Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Cream together the butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat until well blended. Add vanilla. Sift together the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, baking powder and flour. Add half the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Beat well. Add milk (or buttermilk), beat, then add remaining flour mixture. Add the fig preserves and beat batter for 2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 70 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack for 10 minutes. Invert cake from pan onto cake plate and allow to finish cooling completely.
Note: I’ve made this with milk and buttermilk this week. I prefer the one with buttermilk. The cake seems a bit more tender and moist.