Nee's Fig Cake

I did a happy dance recently when I was going through my grandmother's (Nee's) recipes and found this. I thought it was gone forever as no one had seen it for several years. My great grandmother had the largest fig tree I have ever seen in her yard and every year we had more figs than we knew what to do with; thus, we had preserves and then fig cakes for the whole year.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 12-15

Ingredients

• Cake Ingredients

• 2  cups all-purpose flour, measured after sifting
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  tablespoon baking powder
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
• 1⁄2 teaspoon clove
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1  cup  vegetable oil
• 3  large eggs, at room temperature
• 1  tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 1  cup  fig preserves, stems removed from the figs and each fig cut into 4 pieces along with the syrup from the preserves
• 1  cup pecans, chopped

• Topping Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup butter
• 1  cup buttermilk
• 2  cups sugar
• 2  tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 2  tablespoons white corn syrup
• 1  teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift into a large mixing bowl: flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Blend well with a spoon.
3. Add oil, eggs and vanilla and beat for 2 or 3 minutes at medium speed using electric mixer.
4. Add buttermilk and cut-up-figs and beat 2 more minutes on medium.
5. Pour into un-greased 9x13 in pan or two round 9-inch pans. (I have only made this in a 9 x 13, so I can't vouch for the 2 nine inch pans).
6. Bake at 350-degrees for 45-minutes and test for doneness by inserting a straw in the center.
7. Remove to wire rack to cool.
8. TOPPING:.
9. Add all topping ingredients in a medium sauce pan.
10. Heat until the mixture almost comes to a boil, then reduce heat and allow sugar to melt and for the sauce to thicken. Stir this constantly to keep it from sticking.
11. Once mixture becomes thick, pour it over the warm cake and allow it to absorb.