It was late summer and I knew figs had to be involved. And this time, it was figs and lavender. I am such a huge fan of fruit and herb.

 And you know what else is nice about this cake? No beating, no whipping, just mix the ingredients.

Sometimes a girl needs to leave her mixers alone.

To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about this cake because I wasn't sure brown sugar, figs and lavender would all go very well together, but I was pleasantly surprised. Also there's almond flour in the cake, so it has a nice nuttiness to it. It's not really your light, fluffy airy cake. It's dense, rich and comforting. My friend ate the cake leftovers for dinner the next day. True story.

Recipe Source: My own creation
Servings: 8

Ingredients:

The topping

Black mission figs: 10 (fresh), stemmed and sliced into halves
Dark brown sugar: 1/2 Cup, firmly packed
Salted Butter: 5 Tbsp
Lavender: 1/4 Tsp

The cake

All purpose flour: 3/4 cup
Almond flour: 1/4 cup
White Sugar: 3/4 cup
Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup, melted
Eggs: 2
Sour Cream: 1/2 cup
Salt: 1/4 Tsp
Baking Powder: 1/2 Tsp
Lavender: 1/4 Tsp

Melt the salted butter and dark brown sugar in a saucepan till you smell that caramel, the mixture will bubble and this whole thing should take 3-4 minutes on medium-high heat.

Pour the caramel on the bottom of an 8 inch baking pan, and arrange the fig slices on the caramel. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp lavender on this arrangement.
Pretty, no?

The cake is super easy.

Mix all dry ingredients. All-purpose flour, almond flour, sugar, lavender, baking powder and salt.

Mix all wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Melted butter, beaten eggs and sour cream.

Mix everything. Mix mix.

Pour batter onto the pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. I would recommend checking every few minutes after 20 minutes.

Serve the cake warm, or at room temperature. It is a wonderful world of the salted brown sugar caramel, fresh fruit and lavender.

Okay, so you don't know a thing about me. A good place to start would be: I love butter. And sugar. And most of all, salted butter caramel. No better way to start this blog, in my opinion.

The stars of the show:

Heavy Cream: 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp, or 10 Tbsp, if you happen to be interested in that kind of math
Salted Butter: 6 Tbsp
Sugar: 1 Cup
Salt: 1/2 Tsp (optional)

So simple.

Before you start with the sugar, do this for me. Wear full sleeves or gloves even, if you feel that apprehensive. Make sure you have a deep, heavy pan. And lastly, pour the heavy cream into a bowl and warm it up so it's ready to pour into the caramel when the moment arrives.

I know I didn't need to post this photo but there's something about pouring liquids that makes me want to capture it in a picture.

Now, empty the sugar cup into the nice heavy pan. In about 3-4 minutes, it should start turning into copper coloured liquid. If the layer of sugar is thin,it will brown around the edges, and if it is thick, it will start browning at the bottom and it may not be visible to you immediately. Lightly stir occasionally so you're able to spot the browning.

If you stir too much, the sugar may clump together. Don't worry too much about it, it is a classic mark of an amateur. Just try to break it up and dissolve the clumps. No one told you making caramel was going to be easy. 

Now, to make good caramel you don't really need a thermometer. When the sugar has melted and you start to smell a nice, brown caramel, which has an ever-so-faint burnt aroma, take the pan off the heat and drop in the butter. The mixture will bubble like mad and if you're unlucky, even splatter around a bit. Be brave, and stir continuously.

Next, pour in the warm cream and keep stirring. My caramel did sieze up, but stir and stir like there is no tomorrow, and it will get nicely incorporated into the cream. If some clumps still remain, you'll just have to strain out them out at the end.

Ta-da!

Whip up with some heavy cream and butter to make caramel buttercream. Stir some into your favourite hot chocolate. Lick it right off the spoon straight from the jar.

Or if you're one of those with self restraint, store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.