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Dessert

Fig Cake

A baked cake with fig filling and frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and fig match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 324 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Fig Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together.

  3. Add the beaten egg yolks and then the milk.

  4. Sift the flour with the baking powder and add to the mixture.

  5. Stir in the vanilla.

Bake the layers

  1. Pour the batter into two layer cake pans.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

Fill and frost

  1. Spread with fig filling.

  2. Beat the egg white, then mix in 3 teaspoons of fig filling and powdered sugar.

  3. Cover the cake with the frosting.

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. Vanilla + figtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together324 recipes

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

  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. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Eggs
Provide structure and richness, binding the batter together as it sets.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the crust turn golden when baked.
Milk
Adds moisture to the batter, loosening it and keeping the crumb soft.

The step that matters

Bake until golden in a preheated oven. Baking in a fully preheated oven sets the batter quickly so it rises well. Leaving it in too long dries the cake and darkens the crust too far.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Figthe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Blueberryfits about as well

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

More fig cake recipes

Filling 13Ribbon 4 See all 144 →

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