Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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 fruit
Remove the gills from the raisins and chop the figs.
Combine the raisins and figs, then steam until tender.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the flour and baking powder, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold into the batter.
If making layers, add the milk to the batter.
Bake the cake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the fig filling
For the fig filling, chop the raisins and figs finely, pour boiling water over them, and stir until thick.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Raisin + figtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Fig + milktop 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).
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
- Figs
- Add moisture and natural sweetness to the cake and filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a soft, light texture when creamed.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into foam, they lighten the batter and help the cake rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, causing the cake to rise.
The step that matters
Beating and folding the egg whites. Egg whites must reach stiff peaks to trap air, which lifts the batter. Overmixing when folding in the whites deflates the foam, leaving a dense cake.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figthe original
- Coconutfits less well
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk. 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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