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By Root 1048 0

burden of fruit. This dark and spicy cake puts those figs to good use along with Louisiana pecans and raw sugar. The figs that thrive in Louisiana, indeed throughout most of the South, are green figs. And they are what local cooks would use here. I’ve discovered, however, that black Mission figs work equally well.

2¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter

1¼ cups raw sugar

3 extra-large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

½ pound firm-ripe figs, washed, stemmed, and coarsely chopped (see headnote)

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Coat a 10-inch (12-cup) Bundt pan with nonstick oil-and-flour baking spray and set aside.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and salt onto a large piece of wax paper and set aside also.

3. Cream the butter in an electric mixer at low speed for 5 minutes or until silvery and light. Add the sugar and cream at low speed for 3 minutes. Beat the eggs in one by one, then beat in the vanilla.

4. With the mixer still at low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry. To avoid overbeating the batter, I add the dries in three batches, the buttermilk in two. By hand, fold in the pecans and figs.

5. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, spreading to the edge. Also rap the pan sharply on the counter two or three times to level the batter.

6. Bake the cake in the lower third of the oven for about 1 hour or until it begins to pull from the sides of the pan, is nicely browned, and a cake tester inserted halfway between the rim and the center tube comes out clean.

7. Cool the cake in the upright pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes; loosen around the edge with a small, thin-blade spatula; then invert on the rack and cool to room temperature.

8. Cut into wedges and serve as is or top each portion with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a drift of whipped cream.

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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine

1986

The Georgia State Legislature demarcates the 20-county Vidalia onion–growing area.

Peter Pan peanut butter, first manufactured in Chicago in 1928 and now owned by Conagra, relocates to Sylvester, Georgia. Today it is the only plant making Peter Pan.

Ben and Karen Barker open Magnolia Grill in Durham, North Carolina, which captures the national fancy and wins a kettle full of awards.

Obrycki’s Olde Crab House moves into new Baltimore quarters with space enough for large private parties.

1987

The Southern Progress publishing corporation, now owned by Time, Inc., launches a new food and fitness magazine called Cooking Light. It is one of the most successful start-ups in magazine history. Among its monthly features: classic recipes (both southern and otherwise) trimmed of calories, fat, and cholesterol.

Flamers, the first of a chain of charcoal-broiled-to-order burger restaurants, opens in Jacksonville, Florida. Today Flamers’ burgers can be enjoyed throughout the U.S. and as far afield as Puerto Rico, Egypt, and the Philippines.

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COLD-OVEN POUND CAKE

MAKES A 10-INCH TUBE CAKE

This recipe comes from Lenora Yates of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the best pound cake baker I know. Now in her eighties, Lenora was my father’s secretary long years ago when he was a professor of botany at North Carolina State College. She still bakes this pound cake regularly for family and friends and always has a wedge of it waiting whenever my stepmother stops by on her way to our mountain house near Boone. Starting the cake in a cold oven, Lenora believes, accounts for its fine texture. But vigorous creaming of the butter, shortening, and sugar surely helps too, as do Lenora’s years of experience. Note: Choose a good all-purpose flour for this recipe, not cake or “light” flour; neither has enough