Recipes Harriet Boucher, Images Brydie Thompson
This spiced fig loaf is delicious sliced and toasted, served with lashings of butter, or serve it decorated with coconut yoghurt and fresh figs like we have here.
Ingredients:
3 cups self-raising flour
½ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp cloves
¼ tsp cardamom
1 cup dried figs, chopped
1 cup apple sauce
1 cup non-dairy milk
½ cup neutral oil (I used sunflower)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cover the figs with boiling water and soak for 15 minutes, then strain.
In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Fold the wet mixture and figs into the dry ingredients.
Pour mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake in the oven at 180°C for 55–60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
When the loaf comes out of the oven, poke a few holes in it with a skewer and drizzle over a third of a cup of the syrup.
Spiced Syrup:
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp cloves
½ tsp cinnamon
2 star anise
1 tsp vanilla extract
Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer until reduced by half or it becomes a thin, syrupy consistency.
To Decorate:
Place the loaf on a serving dish. Generously spoon thick coconut yoghurt on top. Arrange about 5 quartered figs on top and finish with another drizzle of the syrup.
