[upbeat bass guitar music] Fig cakes are as big a deal as the figs themselves on the outer banks and each island community has its favorite.

When it comes to Ocracoke cakes, Trudy Austin has won the festival's blue ribbon more than once.

Today, we get to visit her kitchen to learn a few of her secrets as she shares an old family recipe.

[upbeat music] I cannot believe I am in the kitchen of the legendary Trudy Austin, famous Ocracoke fig maker.

Are you really gonna show me how to make one of these?

- Yes, I am.

I am.

I am so excited.

- [Trudy] Good.

- So, while we're cooking, I have 1,000 questions.

- Okay.

Sure.

- But let's get started.

First of all, I noticed that you have everything organized.

That's 'cause you make how many of these in a year?

- Probably in a year, I make about 300.

- Oh my gosh.

- Yes.

- So, you have to be organized.

Okay.

I'm gonna start pouring.

So, tell me what I have here.

- [Trudy] That is two cups of all-purpose flour.

- [Sheri] Okay.

All right.

- We're doing our dry mix first.

- Okay, and then what am I putting in here?

- We do a teaspoon of nutmeg.

- [Sheri] Ooh, that's a lot of nutmeg.

That's gonna be good.

- Yep and that's a teaspoon of allspice.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- Teaspoon of cinnamon.

- [Sheri] All right.

- [Trudy] Teaspoon baking soda.

- [Sheri] All right.

- And a teaspoon of salt.

- All right.

Now, I just whisk these together?

- Yes, whisk those together.

- Okay.

All right.

I love that this cake does not need a mixer, 'cause people have been making these here since way before mixers came along, right?

- Yes and no one uses a mixer.

So, we set that aside.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- We move on to our wet ingredients.

- Okay.

- We have three eggs, - Just three good ole whole large eggs.

- Yep.

Yep.

Beat those.

We whisk 'em first.

- Whisk the heck out of 'em?

- Yes we do.

- That's a technical term.

Whisk the heck out of 'em.

- Whisk the heck out of 'em.

Now, I use a cup and a half of sugar.

- All right.

Ooh, that's nice and thick.

- Next, we have a cup of oil in here.

- I love a good ole oil cake for the moisture and stuff.

- Yes and it's a vegetable oil.

- I want you to lay hands on it, 'cause I have a feeling that your just touching it is the magic touch and we don't wanna skip out on that.

- So, next, we have a 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

- Ooh, good ole buttermilk.

- Yes.

- I love that, what that's gonna do for the crumb.

- So, we poured the dry ingredients.

- [Sheri] Okay.

Into here?

- Into here.

Yes.

In here first.

- And just all at once?

- All at once.

Yes.

- That's interesting that it doesn't alternate.

- I used to do alternate a little at a time back and forth, the buttermilk and that and I found over the years, it made no difference at all.

Then, we have the 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

- So, you go ahead and you put that in before all the dry's incorporated?

- Yep.

Yes.

- Who in the world?

I would've never, if I had read this, I wouldn't have believed it.

That's why showing me is so much better than reading about it.

- Yes.

No mixer.

It takes some time.

It takes a little longer.

So, next is 1 cup of chopped pecans.

- Okay.

- And we just mix that up.

- [Sheri] And there's some people that don't put nuts or put different ones.

- Yes.

- Is this another one of your personal touches?

- This is my...

I like pecans.

A lot of the women around here will use walnuts.

- Yes.

Now, we're gonna use fig jam in this eventually.

- Yes.

- It's not the fresh figs.

- I cook the jam for two days and so, the sugar, it makes it real sweet and everything and I do it in smaller pieces, but when I'm getting ready to put it in my cake, I may touch it a little bit with a chopper, my grandmother's chopper.

Okay, so I just poured this in.

- [Sheri] Do I need a scrape for ya?

- [Trudy] Yep.

- All right.

- [Trudy] Scrape for me there.

- I'll scrape around here, every last little bit.

- And then we'll... And the last ingredient is they call for like 1/2 teaspoon or a teaspoon.

I just bite ya.

- I like a good glug.

- I do, too.

- Don't you like a good glug?

- We save some of the juice from the preserve.

It may only be a half-pint.

Sometimes, it can be a pint.

As you can see, it's does not have the pieces.

- Oh, look at that.

So, it's just literally the sugar syrup.

- Sugar syrup.

- From the jam.

- And you know, I will just do a splash in each cake, so they're moist and this is all mixed together.

- Now, do you do yours... What kinda pan are we gonna use?

- We are gonna use a bunt pan.

- A bunt pan.

I bet you either have to grease and flour.

- [Trudy] Yes.

- Or spray the heck out this, so it gets in every little nook and cranny.

- Yes.

Exactly.

- Right?

- You have to with a bunt pan like that and I just take and pour it around.

- [Sheri] So, it's a thin batter.

- [Trudy] Yes.

- [Sheri] But yet, but it's thick enough to suspend.

- [Trudy] Yes.

- All those pieces of those nuts and that little bit of fig from the jam and so forth and I bet it makes it moist and sweet, 'cause that jam, you're getting your fruit, you're getting your sweet.

- Sweet.

- You're getting your moisture.

- Exactly.

- You're getting your Ocracoke magic.

So, since this is thin batter, I bet this cooks a pretty good while, right?

- It cooks 50 minutes.

- Okay.

- At 350.

[gentle upbeat music] [relaxing music] - So, look at this.

So, tell me how we got here.

Obviously, we got it out of the oven.

Now, you've got a secret to how long this cools, right?

- Yes.

I have tried 30 minutes or an hour and sometimes, you know how tricky a bundt pan can be and pieces will come off.

I like right at 45 minutes.

- So, do you trust me to cut this thing of beauty?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Oh, it just glides through like a dream.

You can tell this is gonna have great texture.

All right, so let's do our big reveal.

Oh my gosh, look at that.

[relaxing music continues] That is amazing.

May I give you some?

Serrated knife's perfect for this, isn't it?

- [Trudy] It is.

- Yeah.

All right.

Oh, that is so beautiful.

Gotta have a bite.

Gotta have a bite here.

Do you eat some every time you make one?

- I do.

I always have a fig cake.

Yes.

- Oh, yeah.

[relaxing music continues] - At its essence, it's a spice cake.

- It is.

- That tradition, but it's moist, it's tender.

This is delicious.

I can't believe...

I can see why this is a tradition.

- Very basic, very simple, but... - So good.

- The figs really bring it out.

[relaxing music comes to an end]