Gluten Free Fig Upside Down Cake

I have to admit that I had always maintained that I didn’t like figs; but in all honesty I had never even tried them mainly because they look rather off-putting. My husband absolutely loves dates and figs and they are part of his staple diet, as they are to his parents. Anyway, I recently went on holiday to Turkey, because my Father and Mother-in-law have just retired there, and while we were over there they insisted repeatedly that I try them and being newly married I felt that I should. To my surprise I loved them and later went and bought a kilogram of them from the local market! Upon my return to England I decided to see what they are like to bake with and so this cake was born and, trust me, it’s good.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• dried figs (it is up to you how many you use but I used about a handful, just to cover the base of the tin)
• zest of 1 orange
• 200g gluten-free self-raising flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125g granulated sugar
• 200ml milk (I use lacto-free)
• 90 ml oil (I used vegetable oil but any oil will work)

First the boring bit; pre-heat the oven to 180 C or gas mark 4 then grease and line an 8 inch/20cm round tin.

Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the base of your tin and cut your figs in half, try to cut them horizontally, and place them cut side down on top of the brown sugar. Then sprinkle the orange zest over the top.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking powder, cinnamon and granulated sugar then mix it together using a wooden spoon. Measure out the milk and the oil and add it to the mixing bowl; use a spatula to fold the ingredients together quickly until it is nice and smooth.

Then spoon the mixture into the cake tin; put all the mixture in then smooth it rather than spreading it as you go so that the figs don’t moved about.

Bake it in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until its lovely and golden and fills your whole house with a blissful smell!

Then leave it to cool in the tin for about five minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack or plate if you are going to enjoy it straight away-it does taste great when it is warm especially with a little bit of cream! Go bake yourself a delicious gluten-free fig upside down cake!