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.
Ksalter says
excellent recipe! I doubled the amount of walnuts and used wheat flour. It came out perfect!
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you for the review!
Vivienne says
Amazing fig bread. I substituted one egg for a banana. Instead of mixing the fresh figs into the wet ingredients I put them in the dry to get a good coating of flour so they wouldn’t all sink down to the bottom while baking. It was so full of flavor and very moist. It took only 23 minutes for my two loaves to bake. I’m glad I checked them early. Thank you for the recipe.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Vivienne,
Thanks for the review and the comment! Enjoy. 🙂
Mildred says
This was good even with gluten free flour (husband is GF). Now I’m going to try it with regular flour.
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, Mildred, that's great to know! I have a friend who is GF, I'll pass on the into to her! Let me know how it compares to the real deal!
Kelly Methey says
A delicious recipe and very sweet story of your friendship with Chuck. I know you will see him again!
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Kelly, I know I'm looking forward to the big reunion in the sky!
Nancy says
This is a fantastic recipe. I have a fig tree and I make a number of these fig cakes (Bundt pan) which I freeze (of course we eat them fresh as well!) I use fresh figs but I also freeze my figs for use in making this recipe. I increase the amount of figs to 2 cups and the walnuts to 1 cup. I also add orange zest. I use brown sugar. I use half white flour and half whole wheat flour. If I use frozen figs (which I drain as directed), I add an additional 1/4 cube of flour. My friends and family love this recipe. It’s a winner!! Thank you, Hilda!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Nancy, sounds like quite a few changes, you almost have a new recipe there.😉 I love hearing how people add their own touches to the recipes and I'm super jealous and miss my figs so much! Enjoy!
Nancy says
Not at all Hilda, I think these are only minor tweeks. Everything that makes this cake a knock out were originated by you. Thanks again.
Hilda Sterner says
Awww, you're too sweet, thank you!
Janet says
I'm glad to see you added more figs as I wondered myself if it would make it to heavy. This was my first time making this bread and it was fabulous but I thought it could use a few more figs.
Linda says
Hi from Australia, love your recipe. I did only use 1/2cup of sugar and it came out beautifully. This is my third time making as we have an abundance of figs. It is a winner thank you for sharing.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Linda,
Thank you so much for the review. I'm sort of jealous since I left my fig trees behind when I moved to Montana. However, I did bring a small potted plant with me and I leave it inside in the winter. I had one ripe fig this year, it was glorious!
Zeena says
Love this recipe!!! I had large eggs so I reduced the amount of eggs to 2 and increased the amount of figs to 220g (+- 2 cups) chopped figs. Will definitely make again.
Zeena says
I also 9nly used 1 cup sugar
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you Zeena, I appreciate your input, which will be helpful to other readers, and I am glad you love the recipe as much as I do!
Linda says
Mine turned out a bit too moist. I took one commenter’s advice to increase the amount of figs, which was a mistake. I could have baked longer but the tops were getting very dark. I also cut back on the sugar but since my (frozen) figs were not very sweet, that wasn’t necessary. My husband likes it, so will try again with the recipe as written (we have lots more figs in the freezer from last fall’s bumper crop).
Hilda Sterner says
Yes, adding too much moisture is never a good idea. I'd like how it goes by following the recipe as is and then see what you think!
Les says
I just made this as my landlords gave me a second bag of figs from their tree (I made chicken and figs with the last batch) - apparently a bumper crop this year! Anyway, this was delicious! I didn't have nuts or cardamom, but otherwise only made a few tweaks (heaping cup of figs, a bit less sugar and part brown sugar). One question: recommendation for storage? There are only two of us. Freeze some slices? Keep out or refrigerated? Thanks!
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Les, I'm so jealous right now! I'm having fig withdrawals here in Montana. Regarding storage. It does freeze really well, at least according to my friend, Anne, who always sliced the fig bread and froze it to enjoy later. You can leave it out for a few days, it depends on the temperature. If it's too hot the bread could mold due to the figs. You can store it in the refrigerator to make it last longer, but I'd keep it in a ziplock bag to keep it from drying out. Enjoy!
Les says
Thanks!
Nawal says
Beautiful cake.. substituted 1/3 of the sugar for brown sugar and kept rest as same.. Will be making it again for sure..
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, enjoy! It's one of my favorites.