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Ribbon Fig Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 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 ↓

Ribbon 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.

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and ⅔ cup butter.

  3. Add 8 egg whites and mix well.

  4. In another bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and ⅔ cup milk. Mix into the egg mixture.

  5. For the gold part, cream together ⅓ cup butter and 1 cup sugar.

  6. Add ⅓ cup milk, 1 whole egg, 7 egg yolks, 1 ½ cups flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Mix well and season with cinnamon and allspice.

  7. In a greased pan, pour half of the gold cake batter, then layer halved figs on top and dust with a little flour.

  8. Pour the remaining gold cake batter over the figs and bake until golden.

  9. Once baked, layer the gold cake between the white cakes, using frosting in between and covering the entire cake 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

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, milk, 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, flour, butter, milk, egg, cinnamon, fig. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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