The Cake with Fresh Figs is a delicious and irresistible cake with a tasty crumbly shell, filled with lots of fresh, juicy, and fragrant figs, seasoned with lemon and sugar.

You might say it’s a tart, it might seem so but it’s much more than a tart because this Cake with Fresh Figs is a lady cake, 1.5 inches tall, very rich and substantial, and truly tasty.

Ingredients for a 20-22 cm (8-9 inches) diameter and 1.2 inches tall pan

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
7 oz butter (cold butter in cubes)
1 egg
3 tbsp water (very cold)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 lemon (zest and juice)
1 3/4 lbs figs (fresh)
6 cookies, shortbread
1 egg (for brushing)
as needed brown sugar

Tools

Bowls
1 Rolling Pin
1 Pan
1 Oven

Steps to Prepare the Cake with Fresh Figs

Pour the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl and mix.
Add the cold butter from the fridge cut into cubes and mash it with a fork, or with the appropriate tool, mixing it with the flour until reduced to small pieces. If you prefer, you can use the mixer.
Then add the egg and the ice-cold water, mix with a wooden spoon, then pour the mixture onto the work surface.
Work the mixture quickly with your hands, perhaps using a spatula, to not overheat the mixture and if this happens, the butter will melt excessively and make the mixture impossible to work with.
Then work the mixture quickly until you get a soft but compact dough.
Divide the dough in half, wrap both pieces in plastic wrap, flatten them a bit with your hands, and place them in the fridge for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, wash the figs thoroughly, remove the stem and cut them into 4 lengthwise and gather them in a bowl.
In another bowl mix the sugar with the flour and the grated lemon peel.
Pour the mixture over the figs, add the lemon juice and mix gently. Cover the bowl with the figs with plastic wrap and set aside.
After the resting time, roll out both parts of the dough with a rolling pin between two sheets of parchment paper into round sheets, one about 11-12 inches in diameter and the other about 10 inches in diameter. Place the sheets in the fridge for about ten minutes.
Preheat the oven to 392°F.
With the larger sheet, line the pan which must have a rim of at least 1.2 inches. Trim the excess dough with a knife following the edge of the pan. Crumble the dry cookies on the bottom and then pour in the figs spreading them evenly.
Cut the smaller sheet with a fluted wheel, forming strips about 0.4 inches wide.
Place a strip along the diameter of the cake, and continue outward with other parallel strips, and to make the lattice, you can follow the step-by-step photo guide with the tutorial HERE, you just need to space the strips more but the procedure is identical. Cut the excess dough with the knife.
With the leftover dough form a border all around, placing the strips along the edge but facing inward. Decorate the edge with the tines of the fork. Brush all the dough with a beaten egg and sprinkle with brown sugar.
Place the cake on the baking sheet but put a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil under it, it will collect the juice that might come out of the cake and so you will avoid washing the baking sheet.
Bake the cake with fresh figs in a preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes then lower the temperature to 356°F and bake for another 30-40 minutes.
If you notice the edges are coloring too much, cover them with aluminum foil.
The cake will be done when it has reached a nice amber color and you can see the fig juice bubbling.
Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and let it cool completely in the pan.