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Dessert

Fig Cake

A layered cake with a fig filling, made from two distinct batters and baked until golden.

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

  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 ⅜ cup sweet milk and 3 cups flour, mixing well.

  3. Beat in the 8 egg whites until combined.

  4. Divide the batter into two pans, each 1 inch deep.

Make the gold batter and fill

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

  2. Mix in ½ cup sweet milk, 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 8 egg yolks, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon allspice.

  3. Spread half of this batter in a pan, layer the sliced figs on top, then cover with the remaining batter.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. Once cooled, layer the cakes with icing and place the fig cake 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. 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the cake a tender, rich crumb and flavour.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter set and hold its shape.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps it brown and keep the crumb soft.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Figs
Add moisture, sweetness and a soft, jammy texture between the layers.

The step that matters

Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Baking past the point of doneness dries out the crumb, while underbaking leaves a wet, gummy centre. The toothpick test shows when the starches have set and the batter is fully cooked through.

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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