Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fig Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and 2 cups of sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the butter mixture.
Beat in the egg whites until well incorporated.
Make the fig filling
For the filling, cook the figs in just enough water to cover them until tender.
Mash the figs and stir in 1 cup of sugar; cook for a few minutes, watching to prevent burning.
Assemble and bake
Pour half the batter into two greased loaf pans, add the fig filling, then top with the remaining batter.
Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, then let cool before frosting.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + figtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,026 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + figtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,192 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the batter brown and stay moist when baked.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become airy.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
- Figs
- Provide sweet, fruity moisture and flavor in the filling.
The step that matters
Watching the fig filling as it cooks. Figs are high in sugar, so once sugar is added the filling can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Stirring and watching it keeps the filling smooth and prevents a burnt taste.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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