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Dessert

Fig Cake

A layered cake with a white base and a gold-flavored top, studded with halved figs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon 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.

Make the white batter

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter, then add the sweet milk and flour.

  3. Fold in the egg whites.

Make the gold batter

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

  2. Mix in 1½ teaspoons baking powder, 1½ cups flour, 7 beaten egg yolks, 1 whole egg, allspice, and cinnamon to taste.

Layer and bake

  1. In two long pie tins, pour half of the gold batter.

  2. Layer the halved figs on top so they just touch each other.

  3. Pour the remaining gold batter over the figs.

  4. Bake until done.

Assemble and frost

  1. Once baked, layer the white cake with frosting while warm.

  2. Place the gold layer between the white layers.

  3. Cover 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. Allspice + cinnamontop 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

Eggs
Whites add lift and structure to the white layers; yolks enrich the gold batter and add richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor in both batters.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and become light.
Figs
Add moisture and sweet fruit flavor between the gold layers.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air beaten into the egg whites, which gives the white layer its lift. Stirring hard would deflate the batter and produce a denser 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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