Fig cake (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ''sikopita'') is a cake prepared with

fig The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of small tree in the flowering plant family Moraceae. Native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, it has been cultivated since ancient times and is now widely grown throughout the world ...

as a primary ingredient. Some preparation variations exist. It is a part of the cuisine of the Southern United States, Greek cuisine, and the Appalachian Mountains region of North America. It is also a part of the cuisine of

Ocracoke, North Carolina Ocracoke
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the

, which has an annual fig festival.

Overview

Fig cake is prepared with

as a main ingredient. Additional ingredients include typical cake ingredients, along with unique ingredients such as pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Fig cake may be a moist cake, and may be topped with a fig-based sauce, honey, whipped cream or a glaze. A

buttermilk Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most m ...

glaze is used atop some fig cakes. Figs may be used to garnish the cake. Fig cake may be prepared as a pudding cake, a

bundt cake A Bundt cake () is a cake that is baked in a Bundt pan, shaping it into a distinctive doughnut shape. The shape is inspired by a traditional European cake known as , but Bundt cakes are not generally associated with any single recipe. The style of ...

, a

layer cake A layer cake (US English) or sandwich cake (UK English) is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by frosting or another type of filling, such as jam or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for lay ...

and as a

torte A torte (from German language, German ''Torte'' ( (in turn from Latin language, Latin via Italian language, Italian ''torta'')) is a rich, usually multilayered, cake that is filled with whipped cream, buttercreams, mousses, jams, or fruit. O ...

cake. It can be prepared as a

gluten-free A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. The inclus ...

dish. Fig cake may be baked in a skillet. Fig

tart A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes wit ...

s may be prepared using fig as a primary ingredient.

In cuisines

Fig cake is a part of the

cuisine of the Southern United States The cuisine of the Southern United States encompasses diverse food traditions of several regions, including Tidewater, Appalachian, Lowcountry, Cajun, Creole, and Floribbean cuisine. In recent history, elements of Southern cuisine have spread ...

and a part of

Greek cuisine Greek cuisine ( Greek: Ελληνική Κουζίνα) is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, ol ...

, in which it is referred to as ''sikopita''. Fig

preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

is sometimes used in the preparation of fig cakes and ''sikopita''.

By region

Appalachians

Fig cake and similar cakes have traditionally been served in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

of the eastern United States as a part of

Old Christmas Little Christmas ( ga, Nollaig na mBan, lit=Women's Christmas), also known as Old Christmas, Green Christmas, or Twelfth Night, is one of the traditional names among Irish Christians and Amish Christians for 6 January, which is also known more ...

celebrations. In this region, Old Christmas is celebrated through January 6 each year. January 6th is the date of the arrival of the biblical Wise Men to Bethlehem. Fig cake, along with similar cakes such as jam cake, prune cake and

applesauce cake Applesauce cake is a dessert cake prepared using apple sauce, flour and sugar as primary ingredients. Various spices are typically used, and it tends to be a moist cake. Several additional ingredients may also be used in its preparation, and it i ...

, are common in this region during the

Christmas and holiday season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late Novemb ...

Ocracoke

In Ocracoke,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, figs and fig cake are a prominent part of the town's cuisine, and the town has an annual fig festival that includes a fig cake contest. In Ocracoke, the cake was first prepared by Margaret Garrish sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, and the recipe was picked up by others in the town. Fig cake is served at several restaurants in Ocracoke.

Overview

In cuisines

By region

Appalachians

Ocracoke

See also

References

Further reading