Seasonal, Plant-based Almond, Coconut & Fig Pie

Sometimes, you just find the right product at the right time, ripe and bursting with flavours, and your chef's mind just goes into overdrive.

Now you have to decide whether you'll eat them all by the time you get home or make something even more delicious to make the wait worthwhile.

I chose the latter, and I hope you agree. It was worth the wait. Let me know what you think in the comments.

The recipe is also low in sugar, with only 50 grams of added sugar. That is about 6 grams per slice.

Recipe

Serves 8
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Equipment: mixer, round cake pan, unbleached parchment paper

Ingredients
150 g unsalted butter
100 g inulin
50 g caster sugar
or 150 g monkfruit powder*
150 g ground almonds
100 g unsweetened desiccated coconut
4 large eggs (240 g)
100 ml almond (or full-fat coconut milk)
25 g flaked almonds (optional)
or 2 tbsp pine nuts (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180˚c (160˚c fan).

2. Line a round cake pan with parchment paper. Grease with butter and dust with a little gluten-free flour. This isn't necessary, but it helps you remove the cake easily once cooked.

3. Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat. Do not let it boil. Once melted, add the milk. Once warm, remove from heat and set aside.

4. In your mixer bowl, add the eggs, vanilla and sugar, and whisk until combined and it appears white and fluffy.

5. Using a silicone spatula, fold in the dry ingredients, including almond powder, coconut, salt, and baking powder.

6. Add the milk and butter mixture, and gently combine to obtain a smooth batter.

7. Pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle over almond flakes. Bake for 40 minutes.

8. Cool for 20 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

9. Leave to cool for 1 hour before cutting slices.

Option 2 — Façon Tatin:

Before pouring the batter into the pan, pour in a little butter-sugar caramel and slices of figs. Once removed from the pan upside down, it will have a gooey top drizzling over the sides.

For this, I like to use 100 g sugar and 100 g butter. You can also add the juice of half a lemon for an even better recipe. This caramel doesn’t work so well with sugar-free options. To make the caramel, place the butter and the sugar in a small pan. The sugar will melt away gently until it browns a little. Add the lemon juice, stir well, and pour directly over the thick slices of figs arranged neatly at the bottom of the cake pan. Let it set for a minute or two, then pour the batter over.

Option 3 — Façon Crème Brûlée:

This is the recipe shown in the pictures. I arranged the thick fig slices at the bottom of the cake pan and sprinkled the pine nuts. Then, poured over the batter. When the cake cooled and was ready to serve, I sprinkled a little brown (Demerara) sugar and used a blow torch to create a thin layer of crackling caramel.

I added a few slices of fresh figs and mint flowers from the garden for decoration.

* The recipe is low in sugar. For a healthy, sugar-free dessert, replace the inulin and sugar mix with the same weight in monkfruit powder, or 3/4 teaspoon of pure monkfruit extract (100% concentrated powder). The latter is 100-150 times sweeter than sugar. Check the label before using it.

Serving suggestion, plain and simple, no need for custard.