This moist, sweet, and flavorful homemade fig bread recipe is a fall favorite! Sometimes referred to as fig cake, it's loaded with chunks of fresh figs, chopped walnuts, and is spiced with cardamom and cinnamon. Be sure to try my candied figs recipe and my new fig leaf tea recipe!
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This irresistible fig bread recipe is one of my most sought-after recipes! Some of my friends refer to it as fig bread, while others call it fig cake. Whatever you call it, you'll agree that it's absolutely delicious! If you want to be extra naughty, drizzle it with some fig syrup!
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😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- This fig cake recipe is one of the easiest recipes you'll ever make. No need to use a stand mixer or use a bunch of bowls that leave you with a huge mess to clean up afterward.
- Baking fig bread is as easy as mixing the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. After that, pop it in the oven and enjoy the heavenly aroma!
- The spices used in this bread really complement each other and give it a unique taste that you'll be craving all year long.
- Fig bread leftovers freeze well, and the fig bread retains its moist texture. This means you can enjoy your fig bread long after figs are not in season.
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Figs: Fresh or frozen figs are preferred. If you absolutely can't get figs, you can rehydrate dried figs in hot water, then squeeze out excess moisture. Another option is to use one 8-ounce jar of fig jam or fig preserves. If you do that, you may need to reduce the amount of sugar.
- Flour: All-purpose flour or a combination of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar, or a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar.
- Spices: Ground cardamom, cinnamon powder, ground cloves, and freshly ground nutmeg. If you don't have all the spices, you can skip one or two of them, but you want the bread to have a mixture of these warming spices.
- Nuts: Either walnuts or pecans can be added. May leave out if you have nut allergies.
*A full list of ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page!
🍞 Fig Bread Recipe Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Step 1: Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, and sea salt) in a large bowl until combined.
Step 2: Place the walnuts in a ziplock bag and pound with a mallet until crushed. Another option is to use a food processor (paid link).
Step 3: Fold the walnuts in with the dry ingredients.
Pro Tip: Folding the walnuts into the flour coats them with flour and keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the fig bread.
Step 4: In a medium bowl, whisk the wet ingredients (oil, milk, eggs, vanilla, and chopped figs).
Step 5: Fold wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan (greased and floured bundt pan, or two loaf pans).
Pro Tip: If using frozen figs, make sure they are defrosted and drained first so that you don't have excessive liquid in your fig bread, which would cause it to sink in the middle.
Step 6: Bake in the oven, on the middle rack, for approximately one hour for a bundt pan. If using loaf pans, bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Pro Tip: Since oven temperatures vary, test with a toothpick to make sure it's cooked all the way through.
Step 7: Cool the fig bread for approximately 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Cool on wire racks completely before slicing it.
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
This recipe is very flexible and can be prepared with either oil or unsalted butter. Simply substitute an equal amount of melted and cooled butter for the amount of oil called for in this recipe.
There are many reasons why baked goods fall in the middle. Some say it's because the oven door was open during the baking process, while others say the bread needs more flour.
I think one of the main reasons fig bread caves in the middle is due to the high liquid content. This is due to the amount of juice in the figs. This is especially the case if you use defrosted frozen figs, which is why I recommend straining the figs before using them. Try adding an additional ¼ cup of flour to increase the flour-to-liquid ratio.
Although I highly recommend using fresh figs, I realize not everyone has access to fresh figs, and that they are only in season for a short time of the year.
To use dried figs in this recipe, start by rehydrating the dried figs. Cover the figs with boiling water for approximately 10 minutes. Next, drain and pat the figs dry before chopping and measuring out one cup to use in the recipe.
Yes, you can, but some adjustments need to be made to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. I recommend the following adjustments:
• Reduce the amount of sugar from 1-⅓ cups to 1 cup.
• Increase the amount of flour by ¼ of a cup.
• Decrease the amount of figs from 1 cup of fresh figs to ¾ cups of preserves.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- The figs should be chopped coarsely instead of ground. We want big chunks of figs in the bread!
- During fig season, I chop the figs and add them to small ziplock bags in one-cup portions. I then keep them in the freezer to use throughout the year when I'm craving fig bread.
- You can also make this fig bread recipe by replacing one of the eggs with half of a ripe banana. It makes an even moister cake/bread.
- If you have beautiful, fresh figs, you can you can decorate the top of the bread with sliced figs.
- Store the fig bread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze for longer storage.
🍽 More Quick Breads to Try
🍓 More Fig Recipes
If you enjoyed this fig bread recipe, be sure to check out these other fig recipes, too!
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📖 Recipe
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Favorite Fig Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, and sea salt) in a large bowl until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the wet ingredients (oil, milk, eggs, vanilla, and chopped figs).
- Fold wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir just until incorporated. Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan, or two loaf pans.
- Bake in the oven, on the middle rack, for approximately one hour for a bundt pan. If using loaf pans, bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool the fig bread for approximately 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. Cool on wire racks completely before slicing it.
Nutrition
Notes
- If using frozen figs, make sure they are defrosted and drained first so that you don't have excessive liquid in you fig bread, which would cause it to sink in the middle.
- Folding the walnuts into the flour coats them with flour and keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the fig bread.
- The figs should be chopped coarsely. You want big chunks of figs in the bread.
- Since oven temperatures vary, test with a toothpick to make sure it's cooked all the way through.
- During fig season, I chop the figs and add them to small ziplock bags in one cup portions. I then keep them in the freezer to use throughout the year when I'm craving fig bread.
- You can also make this bread by replacing one of the eggs with half of a ripe banana. It makes an even moister cake/bread.
Donna says
I just discovered this recipe in July and have made it numerous times already; these are modifications I use: whole wheat pastry flour, 2/3 cup monkfruit sweetener rather than the sugar, ginger instead of cloves, 50-50 pears and figs (our homegrown dehydrated pears and figs, reconstituted and pureed), made as mini-muffins. When I decide to add nuts, they will be pecans, which is what we grow here. I get 30 mini-muffins by filling muffin cups full (rather than 2/3 full as often recommended). They usually take about 10-11 minutes to bake, but I always test at 9 minutes. I plan to bake scads of these for holiday gifts, as everyone seems to love them. Thank you so much for this recipe! Ha, I'm probably fooling myself into thinking they are more healthy than they really are so I can eat more.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Donna, thanks for the comment and star review! Your substitutions definitely sound great. It actually sounds like you came up with a different recipe. 😂 Either way,it sounds amazing, thanks for sharing with us!!
Lesley says
Thanks for this recipe. I made this bread and shared with my friends. I’ve been getting rave reviews and I also enjoyed. Thanks.
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you so much for the review and so glad you and your friends enjoyed it!
Sherri D says
Oh My!!! Definitely will be making this again and again! Delicious quick bread! The spices are sooooo good! So happy to find another way to use up the figs from my tree! Thank you!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, Sherri! So glad you enjoyed it and thank you very much for the review!
Lisa Sorensen says
This looks great and I'll be trying it this week! Have you tried using a different sweetener like maple syrup or agave?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Sherri,
I've never tried another sweetener. I would be worried about adding more liquid because it might keep it from rising, and it's already a dense bread that doesn't rise too much.
Jacquie says
I tried it! It came out great! I “veganized” by using oat milk instead of dairy and replacing the eggs with applesauce. I added about 1/4 cup extra flour, 1/2 tsp more baking powder and 1/4 tsp more baking soda. I also added more figs. It is so moist and made the house smell wonder while baking!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Jacquie, Wow that sounds great. Thanks for sharing the changes you made, I'm sure it will help others. I'd love a star review if you have the time. 🙂
Jill says
I have large eggs should I use two large eggs to equal the three medium eggs? Or just use three large eggs? I don’t want it to be too egg heavy.
Hilda Sterner says
I think it will be fine either way.
Kris Dobbins says
Can bread flour be used in place of all purpose?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Kris,
I've never tried using bread flour in this recipe but I have a feeling it would not be an issue.
Robin Murtha says
Am I missing something or just dense....lol...you say to mix dry ingredients in one bowl and then wet in another bowl but nowhere does it say to combine the 2. Do you just combine into one bowl all at once or mix a little of each at a time?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Robin, when I updated the post a while back, I must've accidentally deleted that step. 😬 Thank you for the catch! I'll update it now. But, yes, you mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and wet ingredients in another, then fold them together.
Gg says
Delish, I made a few loaves last week and shared with my neighbors and everyone loved it, So thankful that some neighbors have fig trees loaded right now and they are willing to share. Today I'm making as many loaves as i can fit in my freezer its that tasty, such a wonderful blend of spices. I did add extra flour to accommodate two cups of figs in the recipe instead of one. Thanks for creating this yummy recipe.
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you so much for the review and I'm so glad you're enjoying this recipe. I recently moved to Montana, so no more fresh figs for me. I did enjoy them for the last 25+ years though.
Teri Anderson says
This is such a great recipe. It was easy to make and people said it was the best thing that I had baked so far. All of it was eaten quickly.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Teri! I agree with your friends, it's one of my all-time favorites and I shall miss it now that I live in Montana. 😭
Mikelann says
This is without a doubt the best fig cake I have ever tasted! We have had an abundance of figs this year, so I have made it twice. Thank you!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your comment and your review. Enjoy!