At my table

I love having plenty of food in the house. I love the happy sunshine of fruit in bowls on the table, the serene rows of dried herbs and spices on my kitchen shelf, coloured like the beautiful textiles of arid lands. I can not rest unless my fridge is full of curry pastes, tapenades, olives, cheeses and the freezer has a stock of good bread ready for toasting. My little dry store cupboard needs aborio, brown and basmati rice, red and green lentils, two tins of Italian tuna, tinned tomatoes and at least 3 shapes of pasta for me to feel comfortable and if a cake is on a plate somewhere, well, I feel almost holy with contentment.

I really am not an accomplished baker, so I suppose it's why I seem to favour posts about baked things - I feel a real pride in my efforts. Also, my evening meals arrive on plates when it's too dark to make pretty photo foodie art.

My mother was always one for having a full pantry, but mostly, I suspect, because she didn't believe in used by dates. My father in his seventies opened a gourmet food provisions shop (with the idea that he could wax lyrical with customers about food all day, eat a few English crackers with some Gentleman's Relish, turn a few jars to face the right way, do the crossword and saunter home with a good bottle of red off the shelf - which he did for the most part because my mother - busy in her fruit shop next door - came in and tidied and kept the fridges stocked, did the bookwork and checked the used-by dates of everything and with a huffy "it's perfectly fine!" would take them home to sit in her pantry for another few years).

On Tuesday I still had some figs and poached rhubarb hanging about in the fridge and wondered if a cake existed using both of these ingredients. I felt the subtle perfume of each fruit would marry well together. I found a recipe online (from some tacky weekly celebrity mag in Oz) and used it as a template as I didn't have quite enough eggs for their version, they asked for ground almonds but I only had polenta ( consequently, the mix was a little dry so I added yoghurt). I also felt that the 250 grams of butter indicated was just too much - pulling out a whole slab of butter for a cake makes me not only nervous about my belly getting wobbly but also because that would mean there wouldn't be any back-up butter supplies left for my toast - and I like a lot of butter on toast (just like my mother).

So, it was with trepidation that I put the cake in the oven. Would it work after so much modification??

It was SUPERB.

You put half of the wet mix in your tin then top it with the rhubarb, then pour the rest of the mix in and top with cut figs drizzled with honey. Already I am thinking of different combinations - poached damson with pear, apricot and apple...

Fig and Rhubarb Cake
(I used a small round tin - about the size of a side plate - 20cm by 20cm)

125g butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 c castor sugar
dash of vanilla
3/4 c fine polenta
1/2 c dessicated coconut
3/4 c organic self-raising flour
3 eggs
3 tblsp plain or vanilla yoghurt
pinch of cinnamon
5 stalks of rhubarb
1/4 cup castor sugar
4 large or 6 small figs cut in half or quartered
1 tblsp honey

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius

To poach the rhubarb, cut the hard white ends off, peel any tough stringy fibres off with a veg peeler and cut into 4cm lengths. Cook the rhubarb in a pan with the 1/4 cup of sugar and just a splash of water until it's just tender - about 5mins should do it - remember, it will cook more in the cake and take on more sweetness too.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until combined and then add the polenta, coconut, sifted flour and cinnamon and beat for a few minutes only before adding the eggs, one at a time and then the yoghurt.

Have your tin greased (you can use greaseproof paper too, but I didn't bother and it came out a treat) and sppon in half the mix, top with the rhubarb to form an even layer, then add the rest of the mixture, flattening with a baking spatula. Top with the figs - press them in lightly - and drizzle the tops of the figs with honey.

Bake for around 1 hour 15 mins - check and give it another 15 if not set.