First, make your browned butter! In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the 3/4 cup of salted butter and stir constantly until melted and simmering. Continue to simmer, on medium heat, for at least a few minutes, until the popping and hissing sounds have completely subsided (this is the water in the butter burning off – you’ll know once it’s silent). Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the butter reaches a deep amber color and smells nutty or caramelly. The butter may foam, so keep stirring/lifting up spoonfuls of the butter to see the color. The browned milk solids will foam up in the center of the pan – once it does that- immediately take off the burner and let sit for a few minutes, then pour (scrape ALL of the brown bits – that's the flavor!) into a heat-proof small bowl and let it cool to just above room temp (still liquid).

Then toast your sliced almonds! In a large frying pan over medium-low heat, pour your sliced almonds (about 1 ¼ cup) in and let them toast. Stir them occasionally (ever 10 seconds or so) with a spatula or wooden spoon until the sliced almonds start to turn light brown and smell nutty. Once they’re mostly lightly-browned, remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl to cool. Once cool, roughly chop 1 cup of them so that they’re in smaller pieces to put into your cake batter.

Then, make your cake! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and generously grease a 10-cup bundt pan with about a ¼ Cup (or more) of salted, room temp (not melted) butter. The more butter, the better, especially if your bundt pan has lots of grooves/nooks and crannies. The key to not having your bundt cake stick to the pan is LOTS of butter. Once lots of butter is coating the inside, toss in about ¼ cup or more of gluten free flour mix and tilt the pan around so that the flour sticks to every butter-coveed surface, then bang the pan, upside down, against a sink or counter to get rid of any excess flour. Set the pan aside (not by the oven or the butter will melt inside the pan.

Then, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar (packed into the cups so it’s not loose). Add in the honey and molasses and whisk until smooth. Then add in ½ Cup of the liquid, cooled browned butter (stir it up first so that you’re pouring in the browned bits!), the vegetable oil, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Finally, add in the gluten free 1-1 flour mix, the blanched almond flour (again packed into the cup so that it isn’t loose), baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until just combined (do NOT over-mix or your cake won’t rise as much). Finally, fold in the 1 cup of chopped toasted sliced almonds, and the 1 ½ cups of chopped figs (stems removed, chopped into 1cm pieces) until just-combined. Then pour the batter into the heavily-buttered and floured bundt pan.

Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until the top of the cake is hard to the touch and a skewer inserted into the center of one side of the bundt comes out clean! Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack for at least an hour (mine was a heavy bundt pan so it took three hours) until the pan is COMPLETELY cool (this is also a major tip for how to have your cake not stick to the pan - wait for it to cool! Even if it’s a little warm on the outside, wait!).

While the cake is cooling, make your caramel sauce! In a medium, heavy-bottom saucepan, add in the ½ cup of salted butter, brown sugar, molasses, and honey. Heat over medium-low and begin whisking as the butter melts. Continue to whisk until the mixture has completely combined and looks smooth (about 45 seconds). Then, while whisking constantly, slowly add in the cream. Once it’s all been added and is combined, stop stirring and let the mixture simmer (it will be bubbling quite a lot) for 5 minutes. Once five minutes is up, turn off heat and whisk in the salt and vanilla extract. Then pour the caramel sauce into a heat-proof bowl and let cool a bit - it can still be warm when you pour it over your cake! It will seem very liquidy while it’s hot, but it will thicken as it cools.

Once your cake is completely cool, carefully turn the pan upside down and your cake should come out of the bundt pan. Place on a plate and pour the caramel sauce over the cake (you can save the excess for individual slices). Decorate with the leftovers sliced toasted almonds and sliced fresh figs!