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cornbread cake

Figgy Cornbread Cake with Honey Whipped Ricotta

  • Author: joshisbaking
  • Prep Time: 45 Min.
  • Cook Time: 30 Min.
  • Total Time: 1 Hr. 15 Min.
  • Yield: (1) 10in. Cake

Description

A sweet & savory spin on the classic boxed cornbread mix! Dried, sweet golden figs inside a buttermilk and brown butter cornbread cake, topped with a honey whipped ricotta spread seasoned with thyme and cardamom.


Ingredients

Units Scale

Fig Cornbread

  • (2) 8.5 oz. Jiffy corn muffin mix
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), browned and cooled
  • 8 oz. Dried golden figs, stemmed and halved (plus extra for topping)

Honey Whipped Ricotta Spread

  • 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons clover honey (plus extra for topping)
  • 2 teaspoon fresh thyme (plus extra for topping)
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Instructions

Fig Cornbread

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 10in. cake pan. Set aside.
  2. Cut your butter into tablespoon-sized pieces and then brown it in a medium-sized saucepan, stirring occasionally, about 5-7 minutes (take pan off the heat just before it turns dark—the residual heat will do the rest). Once browned, pour the butter into a heat-safe bowl to cool down.
  3. Once the bowl with your butter is cool to the touch (may take about 15 minutes), whisk in your eggs and buttermilk until fully combined. Pour in your 2 boxes of jiffy cornbread mix and gently fold together with a spatula to start and then whisk together until no clumps remain and the mixture is smooth.
  4. Pour the mixture into your prepared cake pan, evenly distribute your figs across the top (cut sides up, don’t submerge completely—they’ll sink in during the bake). Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes, until the edges/sides have browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 15-20 minutes in the pan before carefully removing and letting cool completely on a separate wire rack.

Honey Whipped Ricotta Spread

  1. Add all of your spread ingredients into a food processor and blend until fully combined and the mixture is fluffy (long, 3 second pulses for about a minute). You could also mix by hand with a hand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes.

Assemble

  1. Once your cornbread has cooled, top with the honey whipped ricotta spread, evenly spreading across the surface. Then top with additional figs, thyme, and honey as desired before serving.

Best enjoyed same-day because of the whipped ricotta spread on top! If you keep those separate, store the ricotta spread in the fridge for up to 3 days and the cake covered at room temperature for up to 3 days as well.


Notes

  • Make sure to let that brown butter cool (in a heat-safe bowl) before whisking in those eggs—you don’t want them to curdle if it’s too warm. Give it a good 15 minutes!
  • Bake in the center rack of your oven so it cooks evenly throughout. Those edges will get nice and brown, while maintaining that classic golden yellow top.
  • Don’t go crazy in whipping up the ricotta mixture! It’ll get more fluffy, but nothing to the extent of a meringue or buttercream. It just gets a little more air and easier to spread around the top.
  • Finally, make sure to let your cake cool before adding the spread on top! Otherwise it’ll start to melt, slide around, and be difficult to handle.