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Dessert

Fig Cake

A sweet cake made with figs, molasses, and spices, finished with a sugar‑egg icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. 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 batter

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the milk and mix well.

  4. Sift the baking powder into the flour and gradually add it to the mixture.

  5. Beat in the whites of 3 eggs until well combined.

  6. Divide the batter into two layers.

  7. To the remaining batter, add cloves, allspice, cinnamon, molasses, baking soda, and 1 cup of flour.

  8. Layer the dark dough with the white dough for a marble effect.

Make the icing and top

  1. For the icing, beat together 2 cups of white sugar and the whites of 2 eggs until smooth.

  2. Soak the figs in boiling water for 30 minutes, then split them.

  3. Place the figs, cut side down, thickly on top of the icing.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  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
Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the crumb tender and rich.
Egg whites
Add structure and help bind the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas that makes the cake rise and lighten.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, treacly flavour to the dark dough.
Figs
Contribute soft texture and sweet fruit flavour to the topping.

The step that matters

Layer the dark dough with the white dough for a marble effect.. Gentle layering keeps the two batters distinct instead of blending them, so the marbled pattern survives baking. Heavy stirring would mix the colours into an even, muddy tone.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

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