Fig Almond Upside-Down Cake - Gluten-Free

Is it just that I don't remember, or did fig season come early this year? My friend Jo, who along with her husband maintains a huge organic garden, just gave me a box of figs from their tree. I'm feeling positively autumnal with a fresh fig dessert baking away. 

Since the growers of my figs are gluten-free, I decided to make up a gluten-free cake in their honor. Not a fan of any gluten-free blends on the market, I make up my own. Different blends for different purposes. In this case, I thought ground almonds and coconut flour would go great with figs; and I threw in some tapioca flour, just because. Would have used some sorghum flour, my favorite, but I was out of it. Might have added 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum, but I wanted to see if it would be fine without it. It was.

I worked from my regular upside-down cake recipe that I developed long ago. (If you prefer a traditional yellow cake, here's my regular Fig Upside-Down Cake.) Since this one is gluten-free, I added a bit more bit more liquid. Turned out well, so here it is! For best texture, serve at room temperature. When chilled, the butter in the cake hardens and the cake seems less cake-y and more like a bar.

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Fig Almond Upside-Down Cake 

(Makes one 8-inch round cake, 8 servings)

Note: If you're allergic to almonds, use sorghum flour instead. 

10 (about) small figs, halved
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/3 packed cup (1.75 ounces/51 grams) ground almonds or almond meal
1/3 dip-and-sweep cup (1.75 ounces/51 grams) coconut flour
1/3 dip-and-sweep cup (1.5 ounces/41 grams) tapioca flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon mace or 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
Milk to make 2/3 cup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg 

1 Preheat oven* to 350F/180C/Gas4. In the microwave, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in an 8-inch round Pyrex baking dish. (If you're using a metal 8-inch round pan, you can do your butter melting in a separate dish.) Swirl the melted butter to grease the sides of the pan. Add the brown sugar to the butter in the bottom and blend. Spread mixture evenly. Place fig halves, cut side down, in a pleasing pattern. Set aside. 

Note: I baked this in my toaster oven and decided on a whim to bake it at 325F/165C/Gas3 instead. Worked fine. Usually I grind almonds in the blender or food processor, but this time I decided to try the immersion blender with its chopper/grinder attachment (like a mini food processor). Worked beautifully. 

2 In mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix on low speed* for one minute to blend. Add the 5 tablespoons softened butter, milk, and vanilla. Mix on low speed for 1 1/2 minutes, then add the egg and mix 1 1/2 minutes longer.

Note: Or do it by hand, as I usually do. Just whisk together the dry ingredients; use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients; add the milk, egg and vanilla; beat by hand for a couple minutes. Couldn't be easier! 

3 Spread the batter evenly over the figs with a rubber spatula. Run a knife through just the batter, not disturbing the figs, a couple of times to break up any large air bubbles. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven, loosen edges with knife, and invert immediately onto a platter. Replace any figs that did not release from the pan. Let cool before serving with whipped cream (unsweetened, just a dash of vanilla extract).

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