I’m going to Cake Picnic in San Francisco on October 19th and, because I cannot take anything casually, I’ve decided to bake a cake every week for the four weeks leading up to it so that I can find the perfect cake to bring.

“But Heather, that’s so much cake!”

Yes - it is a lot of cake. That’s why I’ve been hosting home cafes as well to get my friends to taste and review the cakes! Their feedback + my personal scrutiny will the be judge for which cake will make it to the picnic.

Besides finding my perfect Cake Picnic cake, it’s also just an excuse for me to actualize all the dormant cake ideas in my head for the purposes of content and the delight of my friends. I’ve been meaning to bake more as a hobby and this has been a super fun way for me to practice both my creativity and technique in baking.

Follow along my journey to find my Cake Picnic cake on TikTok! There will be many more cakes to come :)

@heatheryuann this will be a hectic few weeks … recipe + notes will be posted later this week! #cake #cakepicnic #baking ♬ original sound - nxghtxcore.audios👁✨

@heatheryuann can you guess what next week's cake will be? #cake #cakepicnic #baking ♬ som original - Andressa Rassam

Now on to the recipe: I must disclaim that much of the way I cook is by taking recipes from a variety of different sources and mushing them together into some other creation. I would love to recipe develop from scratch one day, but for now I’m abstracting that responsibility to all the other lovely internet chefs. I will put my own notes in the margins though for things I would personally change if I were iterating upon these recipes myself. If you happen to try making this cake and apply my notes, please let me know how it turns out in my TikTok comments!

Fig Honey Walnut Cake

This is the perfect cake to make in the late summer/early fall when figs are at their prime! The fresh figs on top + the jam really let the sweet figgy flavor shine.

Please consider the footnotes for relevant details

Ingredients

Honey Cake - adapted from Preppy Kitchen

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups unsalted butter softened (454g)
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar (220g)
• ⅔ cup honey (160mL)
• 8 large eggs at room temperature¹
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Fig Jam - adapted from Once Upon a Chef

• 1 pound ripe figs, stemmed and diced
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ¼ cup water
• 2 one-inch-thick strips of lemon peel, making sure to avoid the white pith

Cream Cheese Frosting - adapted from The Bojon Gourmet

• 12 ounces (337 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
• ¾ cup (169 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cup (150 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Honey Caramelized Walnuts - adapted from The Fed Up Foodie

• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 cups walnut halves
• ⅓ cup raw honey
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Honey Syrup²

• ⅔ cup good quality honey (this is where the raw honey flavor will come through)
• ¼ cup water
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Garnish

• ½ pound of ripe figs, stems on and halved

Instructions

Honey Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease 3 9-inch round cake pans³ with baking spray (Hack: Or wipe the excess butter from their paper wrappers). Line the bottoms with parchment paper and lightly grease the parchment paper (Hack: Fold the parchment paper 4 times into a thin triangle and line up the tip with the middle of the cake pan, then snip off at the edge of the cake pan. The triangle should now be as long as the radius of the pan and unfold into a perfectly fitting circle).
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.
3. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and honey on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla until just combined.
4. With the mixer on low, gradually add in the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Scrape down the bowl and fold in any leftover flour streaks with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it into an even layer.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes. Once cooled, remove the cakes from the pan and peel off the parchment paper. Move on to assembly or wrap with plastic wrap if assembling the next day.

Fig Jam

1. In a saucepan, toss the fig pieces with the sugar, lemon juice, water, and citrus peels. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Simmer the fig jam over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally and mashing the fig pieces, until the fruit is soft and jammy, and the mixture has thickened. About 35 to 45 minutes.
3. Discard the citrus peels and set aside to cool completely, at least 30 minutes at room temperature or in the fridge overnight.

Honey Soak

1. In a small saucepan, combine the honey, water, and lemon juice. Bring to a light simmer, stirring until honey is fully dissolved, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool completely, at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Honey Caramelized Walnuts

1. Prepare a sheet of parchement paper on a baking tray or flat surface.
2. Preheat a large frying pan over med/high heat. Add butter and honey, stirring until the butter and honey have melted and started bubbling, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Add walnuts and salt. Stirring constantly, cook until nuts have toasted and honey has taken on a deep caramel, almost amber, color, about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer hot nuts onto parchment and spread evenly to let cool. When nuts have cooled to room temperature, seperate nuts to avoid them sticking together. Once completely cooled, at least 30 minutes or overnight in an airtight container, roughly chop ⅔ of the walnuts and leave the other ⅓ whole for garnish (try to pick out the pretty ones).

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and cream cheese on medium-low speed until combined. It’s okay if there are some lumps. Take a silicon spatula and press the cream cheese along the sides of the bowl to break up the lumps and achieve a smooth texture.⁴
2. Add the sifted powdered sugar into the cream cheese mixture and add the vanilla and salt. Beat the frosting on low speed to combine, then increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Use right away.

Assembly

1. The cakes should not have domed very much, but if they have, use a large serrated knife to slice off the domed portions to achieve leveled cake layers.
2. Fill a pastry bag or a large Ziploc bag with the cream cheese frosting and cut off the corner to create a hole about 1-2 inches in diameter.
3. Apply a small dollop of frosting on a 9-inch cake board or flat plate to help the first cake layer stick to the surface.
4. Lay down a cooled cake layer and brush on a thin layer of honey syrup. Squeeze on about ¼ cup of frosting and spread evenly. Using the pastry/Ziploc bag, pipe a border of frosting around the edge of the cake layer. Spread an even layer of jam (about ½ cup) inside the frosting border. Sprinkle on an sparse layer of chopped caramelized walnuts.⁵ Place a second cake layer on top and repeat the same filling process. End with the third and final layer of cake on top.
5. Squeeze the remaining frosting into a tall blob in the center of the cake and gently push/spread the frosting to the edges of the cake. Using a large offset spatula or spoon, create swoops in the frosting.
6. Nestle halved figs and whole caramelized walnuts across the top of the cake and finish with a sprinkle of additional chopped walnuts.
7. Serve on the same day or store in the fridge for up to 2 days (the unfrosted sides cause the cake to dry out faster, so keep that in mind).

Footnotes

1. PLEASE DO ROOM TEMPERATURE. I normally hand-wave eggs being at room temperature but this cake really taught me a lesson. The ratio of eggs in this recipe is really high. If the eggs are not at room temperature, the cold eggs will cause the butter to seize and the batter to split, leading to an uneven and coarse crumb in the final cake. Do not make the same mistake as me. ↩

2. I didn’t do this when I made the cake originally, but I think it would make the cake more moist + add more honey flavor ↩

3. I did 2 layers in the video, but I think the cake would have tasted better with a higher filling to sponge ratio, which is why I recommended and scaled the recipe to be for 3 layers. ↩

4. The reason we’re doing this wall smashing technique instead of just beating the mixture more is because cream cheese is thixotropic, meaning the more you agitate it the more liquidy it gets. We want nice and thick frosting to pile high on the cake :) ↩

5. I forgot to do this in the video, but I intended to. I think the additional crunch and bitter smokiness would have been a nice touch, but be sure not to go too overboard with it. ↩