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Dessert

Fig Cake

A layered cake made with figs, raisins, currants, spices, and two batter layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Make the dark batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream together the dark brown sugar and 7 ounces of butter.

  3. Add 1 cup of water, spices, and 4 eggs, mixing well.

  4. Stir in chopped raisins, wine, chopped figs, and currants.

  5. Sift together 1 pound 2 ounces of flour and 2 teaspoons of baking powder, then fold into the mixture.

Make the light batter

  1. For the second layer, cream 1 pound of white sugar and 6 ounces of butter.

  2. Add 1 cup of sweet milk, cornstarch, 14 ounces of flour, and 3 teaspoons of baking powder.

  3. Beat the whites of 6 eggs to stiff peaks and fold into the mixture.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake both mixtures in thin layers.

  2. Layer the cakes alternately and top with powdered sugar or icing flavored with rum or sherry.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whole eggs bind the batter, and the whipped whites add lift and a light crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in both batters.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and become lighter.
Figs
Add moisture, chewy texture, and natural sweetness to the dark layer.
Cornstarch
Softens the flour's gluten, giving the light layer a finer, more tender crumb.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Whites hold air only when beaten to stiff peaks and folded gently. Stirring hard deflates them, so the light layer bakes up dense instead of airy.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, wine):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Lemonfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, wine. 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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