Fig and yogurt cake recipe: David Lebovitz's Paris method

Fig and yogurt cake buries the fruit inside a dense almond crumb instead of laying it on top, a swap Paris-based food writer David Lebovitz uses to stop figs drying out mid-bake.

Figs peak in France between August and October, mostly from the Solliès basin in Provence and orchards across Languedoc-Roussillon. Lebovitz's newsletter recipe folds whole-milk yogurt into an almond-flour batter, keeping the cake moist longer than the fruit's short window lasts. It lands the same autumn as Benoît Castel's new address in the city, another Paris pastry story built on plain technique rather than plating.

Ingredients

The cut side faces up so the fruit roasts instead of steaming, and that changes the flavour completely.

• 175 g unsalted butter, softened
• 175 g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp for the top
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 90 g whole-milk yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 160 g ground almonds
• 90 g plain flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp five-spice powder
• 9 ripe figs, halved

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and line a 22cm springform tin with baking paper; starting hot catches the sugar on the figs' cut edges before the crumb underneath dries out.
2. Beat the butter and sugar for 3 minutes, until pale and roughly doubled in volume — the only rise this batter gets, since ground almonds carry almost no gluten.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the yogurt and vanilla; adding them slowly stops the batter splitting, which would trap water and leave the crumb rubbery.
4. Whisk the almonds, flour, baking powder, salt and five-spice separately, then fold into the batter in two batches, so the raising agent spreads evenly instead of collecting in pockets.
5. Spread the batter in the tin and press the fig halves in, cut side up and close together; the exposed cut roasts rather than steams, concentrating flavour instead of watering down the crumb.
6. Bake 15 minutes at 200°C, then 35–40 minutes at 160°C (140°C fan) until a skewer comes out clean, since dropping the heat stops the almond flour browning before the dense centre sets.
7. Scatter the reserved sugar over the hot cake and leave it in the tin for 15 minutes before unmoulding, so the sugar sets into a glaze and the crumb firms enough to hold its shape.

Pair it with something sharp

The crumb is dense and only mildly sweet, so it takes well to acidity alongside: a spoon of crème fraîche or a small glass of chilled Banyuls cuts through the almond richness rather than adding to it.

Swap the five-spice for a pinch of cardamom in pear season; the base recipe holds either fruit without changing the baking times above. Wrapped in its tin, this fig yogurt cake recipe keeps three days at room temperature.

Can I make this cake a day ahead? Yes — wrap it in its tin and leave it overnight; the crumb firms up and the fig flavour settles in further by the next day.