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Dessert

Fig Cake

A layered cake with white and yellow batter, figs, and optional icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice 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 the white batter

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

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

  3. Add ⅔ cup milk, 3 cups flour, 8 egg whites, and 2 teaspoons baking powder. Mix well.

  4. Divide the batter into two layers.

  5. Bake in prepared pans.

Make the yellow batter

  1. For the yellow part, cream together 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter.

  2. Add ½ cup milk, 7 egg yolks, 1 whole egg, 1½ cups flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Mix well.

  3. Flavor the batter with cinnamon and allspice.

Layer and bake

  1. Pour half of the yellow batter into a pan.

  2. Layer with halved figs and dust with a little flour.

  3. Pour the remaining yellow batter over the figs.

  4. Bake until done.

Assemble and serve

  1. Once baked, layer the gold cake between the two white layers with icing in between.

  2. Ice the entire cake if desired.

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. Cinnamon + allspicetop 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

Egg whites
Provide structure and lift to the white layers as they set in the oven.
Egg yolks
Add richness, fat and moisture to the yellow layer, giving it a golden colour.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavour in both the white and yellow batters.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake batters as the proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise and become light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender while it bakes.

The step that matters

Pour the remaining yellow batter over the figs. Figs release moisture as they bake, and batter poured carelessly can shift or sink them. Gently spreading the batter keeps the layers even so the cake rises and sets uniformly.

Swap the allspice

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