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Dessert

Ribbon Fig Cake

A layered fig cake with butter, sugar, flour, eggs, milk, molasses, raisins, currants, cinnamon, cloves, and a ribbon of figs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Ribbon 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 the batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  4. Stir in the milk, baking powder, and vanilla.

  5. Fold in the flour until just combined.

  6. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.

Make the fig and fruit layers

  1. Divide half the batter into 3 or 4 greased jelly tins. Layer split figs, seeds up, on top of the batter. Bake until golden.

  2. To the remaining batter, add molasses, raisins, currants, cinnamon, cloves, and a little more flour. Pour this mixture into 2 or 3 greased jelly tins. Bake until done.

Assemble

  1. Once baked, layer the cakes alternately with frosting. Place a fig cake on top.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Yolks add richness and emulsify the batter; whites beaten to stiff peaks lift it.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to make the cake rise and turn light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, tender texture when creamed with butter.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the fruit layers.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiff whites hold the air that lifts the batter. Stirring them in vigorously knocks that air out, leaving a denser cake. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.

“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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