Fig Cake

While figs in most parts of the United States are an expensive luxury, a backyard fig tree is still common in Louisiana, and recipes for fresh figs or fig preserves sweeten old and new cook books. Many add raisins and nuts to make a figgy fruitcake, as moist as the swamps, dark with brown sugar, and elevated to tea-table status baked in a tube or Bundt pan.

“Use the broom wisp test,” the Picayune advises us to test doneness. “If not done, bake longer, till the straw comes out