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Dessert

Fig Cake

A layered cake with silver and gold batter, figs, and white frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 batters

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

  2. For the silver part, cream together the butter and sugar.

  3. Add the milk and flour to the silver mixture.

  4. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

Make the gold batter

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

  2. Add the milk, beaten egg yolks, and whole egg to the gold mixture, and mix well.

  3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and allspice.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake the silver mixture in two long tins.

  2. Pour half of the gold mixture into one long tin.

  3. Layer the halved figs on top of the gold mixture.

  4. Pour the remaining gold mixture over the figs.

  5. Bake until done.

  6. While warm, layer the cakes with white frosting.

  7. Place the gold layer between the silver layers.

  8. Cover the top with 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. 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

Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together.
Eggs
Whole eggs and egg whites add structure and lift; yolks add richness.
Baking powder
Releases gas that makes the cake rise and turn light.
Figs
Add sweetness and moisture to the gold layer.

The step that matters

Fold in the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the whites, which gives the batter lift. Stirring hard deflates the foam, leaving a denser, flatter cake.

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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