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Dessert

Fig Cake

A layered cake with a white batter and a gold-flavored filling, studded with dried figs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 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.

Prepare

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

Make the white batter

  1. In a bowl, cream together 2 cups sugar and ⅔ cup butter.

  2. Add ⅔ cup sweet milk and mix well.

  3. Sift together 3 cups flour and 3 heaping teaspoons baking powder, then add to the mixture.

  4. Fold in the 8 egg whites gently until combined.

Make the gold batter

  1. For the gold part, cream together 1 cup sugar and ¾ cup butter.

  2. Mix in ½ cup sweet milk, then add 1½ teaspoons baking powder and 1½ cups flour.

  3. Beat in 7 egg yolks, 1 whole egg, 1 teaspoon allspice, and cinnamon to taste.

Assemble and bake

  1. In two long pie tins, pour the white batter evenly.

  2. In another pie tin, pour half of the gold batter, then layer 1 pound of floured dried figs on top.

  3. Cover with the remaining gold batter and bake until golden.

  4. Once baked, layer the cakes with frosting while warm, placing the gold between the white layers.

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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + figtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together614 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Allspice + figtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that sets the crumb as the batter bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Egg whites
Trap air in the batter, helping the cakes rise and turn light.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, lifting the batter so it rises.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb soft and moist.
Dried figs
Add sweetness and chewy moisture within the gold layer.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air bubbles that give the cake its lift. Vigorous mixing knocks that air out, so the cakes can bake up dense rather than light.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon, fig):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon, fig. 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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