Sweet and Savory Honey Fig Goat Cheese Cake – tender honey cake layers with a goat cheese filling, fig jam and mascarpone frosting.
Mom’s Homemade Jam
The idea for this Sweet and Savory Honey Fig Goat Cheese Cake stems from my mom’s homemade fig jam. She has a hill of fruit trees in her backyard, one of which is a fig tree, so she’s often making some kind of curd or jam with the abundance of fresh produce. The other day she called to tell me she was whipping up a couple batches of fig jam. With a visit from her just around the corner, I quickly asked if she’d bring me a jar and then started thinking up flavor combinations for my next cake.
Goat Cheese Filling
I immediately knew I wanted to do a goat cheese filling with the fig jam. I mean, who doesn’t love a good charcuterie board? Cheese and fruit are meant for each other!
Of course, the goat cheese needs to be sweetened up a bit, so I added some honey and then lightened the texture by folding in whipped cream. The goat cheese is a strong flavor so you won’t need a lot of the filling between each layer. It just adds a nice savory element to the cake, without being too heavy or overwhelming.
Fig Jam
The fig jam is simple and slightly sweet. Providing a nice balance to the savory goat cheese. I don’t ever fill my cakes with too much of a soft filling. Instead, I use about ½ cup between each layer and then reserve the rest to serve on the side of each slice of cake.
Mascarpone Frosting
To complement the filling, but not take away from it, I used a light mascarpone frosting. I used the same recipe from my Lemon Gingerbread Cake from last Christmas (one of my favorites!), and I’m so happy with the combination. The hint of lemon is the perfect addition to the flavors in this cake.
Honey Cake
As for the cake, I thought about doing some sort of spice cake but felt like that might fight with the flavors of the fig jam too much. Instead, I went with a honey cake and used the base of my Honey Pear Upside Down Cake. It’s tender, sweet, slightly dense and just so perfect for this cake.
I’ve been so eager to share this recipe with you and cannot wait for you to try it! Enjoy!
Sweet and Savory Honey Fig Goat Cheese Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) sugar
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (5.6 g) salt
- 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk
- 1/2 cup (175 g) honey
- 2 teaspoons (8.4 g) vanilla
For the goat cheese filling
- 4 ounces plain goat cheese
- 3 tablespoons (65.62 g) honey
- 1 cup (231 g) whipping cream
For the fig jam
- 4 cups (500 g) chopped fresh figs
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (87.5 g) honey
- 1/4 cup (59.15 g) water
- 1/4 cup (60.5 g) fresh lemon juice
For the whipped lemon marscapone frosting
- 1 cup (231 g) heavy whipping cream I like Darry Gold
- 8 oz. mascarpone
- 2 cups (250 g) powdered sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) lemon extract
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch or four 6-inch pans with nonstick spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together the buttermilk, honey and vanilla. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 4 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Gradually add in the dry and wet ingredients, alternating between the two, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Evenly divide the batter between the three cake pans (about 16 to 17 ounces in each 8-inch pan or 12 ounces in each 6-inch).
- Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes nearly clean
- Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
For the goat cheese filling
- In the bowl of stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese and honey and mix well.
- Fold in the whipped cream. Store in the fridge until ready to use.
For the fig jam
- In a medium size saucepan, combine all the ingredients and bring to boil.
- Continue to simmer the mixture on low for 30 to 60 minutes until thick.
- Let cool completely
- In a food processor or blender, process the jam until it’s nearly smooth. Pour into mason jars and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Best to make a day or two ahead of time.
For the whipped mascarpone frosting
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
- In the same bowl for the electric mixer, combine the mascarpone, powdered sugar and lemon extract. Mix on medium speed until incorporated.
- Gradually fold in the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture.
- Use right away.
Assembly
- On a cake board, spread a small dollop of frosting to hold the cake in place. Place your first cake layer on the board.
- Spread about ½ cup of the goat cheese filling on the cake layer. Pipe a rim of mascarpone frosting around the edge of the cake and then fill the center with ½ cup fig jam.
- Place the second cake layer on top and repeat step 2. Place the final cake layer, top side down, on the filling. Freeze the cake, with no crumb coat, for about 20 minutes.
- The mascarpone frosting won’t freeze like normal buttercream, so I don’t typically do a crumb coat and will just frost the cake roughly just one time.
- Chill in the fridge, covered, until ready to serve.
This looks beautiful! I just made some fig jam two weeks ago – what a perfect use for it! (Although, I’d love to try your mom’s recipe too, it looks a bit different than mine).
does this cake freeze well?
The cake itself does but the frosting won’t harden like the regular buttercream
Can I make this whole cake a day ahead of time and just keep it in the fridge?
Yes, just make sure to keep it totally covered so it doesn’t dry out.
I’m very excited to make this frosting for a honey and peach cake. Do you think I should stabilize the frosting with gelatin if I live in a hot and humid place. The cake won’t be outdoors but I’m afraid of it melting a bit during transportation even with the A/C on. Thanks!!
Yes you can try! It is definitely a softer frosting
Could dried figs be used to make the fig jam?
Yes
I have made this with dry figs and found that it becomes too thick and difficult to spread. Still tastes wonderful but more water is needed to reconstitute the dried figs if using those. Fresh figs are only found August through early October where I am located but the cake is so delicious that using the dried figs work with some tweaks.
Hi Courtney this is a beautiful cake. I have one question do i need to peel the figs when making the fig jam?
Looking forward to make this cake.
Yes!
Wow, I didn’t read this before making the fig jam. I found the skins boil down and are processed very well without peeling. I’d save the time and forget the peeling!
This looks so good! Does the cake have to be refrigerated because of the goat cheese?
If you’re making it more than a few hours before you serve it, yes, I would refrigerate it. Make sure it’s covered so it doesn’t dry out.
Y’all, this cake is just ridiculous! Ridiculously wonderful. So worth the effort. Thanks for sharing you recipe.
Dara! Thank you so much!!
Hi there! I am hoping to make this incredible cake for my wedding but I was wondering if you have any advice on how to make the frosting more stable?? I’ve made it twice and I love love love this cake but I’m worried that it won’t hold up to be on display for a few hours out of the fridge! Please let me me know I would appreciate it!!!
I’m so glad you love it, but I agree, it’s not a super stable buttercream, especially for a wedding. I’d probably use a traditional buttercream instead to be honest.
Could you give a ballpark number of how many figs are needed to make the jam?
24-36
Hi Courtney,
I am very excited to make this cake for my mum’s birthday. This will be my first time using lemon extract. Do you have a brand you recommend using? Is there any risk in buying a poor quality extract that might make it taste like Pledge?? Thanks for your help.
McCormick is always a safe bet!
Okay, this cake was absolutely a-mazing. My husband said it’s the best cake he’s ever eaten (specifically, the frosting) and requested for his birthday that I make him a cake with that very frosting. The lemon extract was really lovely – no Pledge taste in the least! My only struggle was how thick my fig jam turned out to be – I probably let it boil down too much. I was also impatient after it cooked and didn’t let it cool down completely before blending it. Would that make a difference to its consistency? Blending before cooling?
Thanks for another fantastic recipe!! Can’t wait to make the next one!
Yes make sure to let it cool before blending!
This recipe is wonderful! The combination of flavors hits all the right spots and the honey cake is simply perfection. I’ve started using it in place of vanilla cakes. Thanks Courtney!
Thank you so much!!!
The flavors in this cake were very interesting to me and I figured it HAD to be good if it was both in the cookbook and on the site. I picked a date and made the cake for coworkers. I couldn’t find fresh figs anywhere so I ended up using preserves, but other than that all other parts of this cake were made exactly to the recipe.
The cake was absolutely delicious and I never saw so many clean plates! The cake was not overly sweet and the whipped filling and frosting helped make it feel lighter. The lemon in the mascarpone frosting really sealed the deal for me, and for others they said it was their favorite cake I have made so far. I decorated the cake the night before and everything held together. As noted in the other comments from Courtney and the recipe, the mascarpone frosting will not crust, so be aware that it will stay soft!
FANTASTIC!! I could not find fresh figs in my area, so I found a different jam recipe that used dried mission figs, but other than that I made the recipe exactly as written. The whipped goat cheese filling has just the right amount of goat cheese and the mascarpone frosting is fluffy and light. Also, the honey sponge kind of reminded me of a brioche in terms of flavor. Thank you for putting these flavors together into this recipe! My family loved it!
Yay!
I can’t tell you how great this cake is! I’ve made it several times and am preparing this for a wedding. I’ve made some tweaks based on the icing so it holds up to the temperature but what a cake with so many rave reviews!
Question is this cake supposed to rise more? Each of my layers ended up being only like an inch tall
It’s a more dense cake so you’re ok!
How many eggs does the cake recipe take?
The recipe says 4
I made this for my mom who prefers her less sweet cakes than I normally make, and she absolutely loved this. Personally, I’m not a fan of goat cheese and though you can definitely taste it in this recipe, if you add more fig jam on the side of a slice, it balances very nicely. The fig jam was ridiculously easy to make, although my came out a very pale pinkish orangeish color, perhaps due to the type of figs I used (heirloom figs). I did have trouble with the mascarpone whipped cream because it didn’t come out stiff enough to hold it together very well at all. I will try to tweak it next time. Since this cake had a filling and wasn’t very stable on its own, I had to keep it in the fridge until serving, and the honey cake layers got kind of dense in the fridge. Again, I would probably just try to make a more stable whip cream so I could take it out of the fridge a little beforehand. I halved the recipe and made a 4 (thin) layer, 6 inch cake.
I wanted to do 5 stars, but I am rewriting my review because all the time I spent on the first one was just wiped away for no reason — so frustrating. Anyway, the recipe says 1/2 cup of goat cheese/cream between the layers- what do you suggest to do with the rest since I am pretty sure it can’t be frozen ?