Why it works: Milk and butter 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Split the figs and set them aside.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the milk and egg whites, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.
Pour the batter into two square pie tins.
Place the split figs on top of the batter before baking.
Bake and assemble
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Once cooled, layer the cakes with icing, placing the figs in the center.
Ice the top and sides, then cut into squares.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fig + flourtop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
- Egg whites
- Set during baking to add structure and help the cake hold its rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, making the cake rise and become light.
- Figs
- Add moisture, sweetness and fruity flavor to the cake.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.. Stirring only until the batter is smooth prevents overdeveloping the flour's gluten, which would make the cake tough and dense rather than tender.
Swap the fig
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, flour, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, flour, butter, 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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