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Dessert

Fig Layer Cake

A layered cake made with figs, butter, sugar, flour, yeast, eggs, and a gelatin icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fig Layer Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fig filling

  1. Put half a cup of sugar and one cup of water in a saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

  2. Add one pound of figs, chopped fine.

  3. Stew all together until the mixture is soft and smooth.

  4. Take from the fire and cool.

Make the cake batter

  1. Cream half a cup of butter.

  2. Add very gradually one and a half cups of sugar, beating until light and creamy.

  3. Add, little by little, one cup of water and two and a half cups of sifted flour.

  4. Beat thoroughly until all the flour is beaten in smoothly.

  5. Stir in two teaspoons of yeast powder.

  6. Have ready the whites of four eggs beaten to a stiff froth.

  7. Stir these in carefully.

  8. Add one teaspoon of flavoring extract.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake in three layers.

  2. Spread fig mixture between the layers and on top.

Ice and dry

  1. Gelatine icing: put one tablespoon of gelatine in a bowl with one tablespoon of cold water; let soak ten minutes.

  2. Add two tablespoons of boiling water; stir until dissolved.

  3. Add enough powdered sugar to make a proper consistency to spread.

  4. Flavor and spread the icing on the cake.

  5. Stand in a cool place to dry.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

684Calories
19 gProtein
18 gFat
108 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. See the original page.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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

Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its starches set during baking.
Eggs
Whipped whites trap air, giving the batter lightness and an open crumb.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
Figs (in the method)
Cooked into the filling, adding moisture, sweetness and fruity aroma.
Yeast powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.

The step that matters

Stirring in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites hold air that makes the batter light. Stirring them in gently keeps that air in; vigorous mixing deflates them, leaving a denser cake.

“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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