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Fig Filling for Layer Cake
Fig marmalade is a good filling for layer cake, as it gives good flavor. It may be used if the housewife desires; or a filling may be made as follows; 1/2 pound figs, washed, and ground though a food chopper 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup rice flour or cornstarch Juice 1/2 lemon A few grains salt Boil the sugar, lemon juice, and water two minutes. Add the fig marmalade and salt. Cook in a double boiler so as not to scorch, till the figs are well softened and the mixture thick. Add the rice flour, and cook fifteen minutes. When cool, spread the filling on the cake.
A straightforward cooked fruit filling, thickened with starch rather than eggs, so it keeps well between cake layers without weeping.
- The "fig marmalade" in the methodThe instruction to "add the fig marmalade" refers to the half pound of ground figs listed above it, not to a second, jarred ingredient. If you are using bought fig marmalade instead, skip the sugar and water entirely and simply spread it.
- Slurry the starchAdding 1/4 cup of dry rice flour or cornstarch to a hot pan gives lumps. Whisk it smooth with two or three tablespoons of cold water first, then stir it in.
- Fifteen minutes is for rice flourFifteen minutes suits rice flour -- Rice flour needs a longer cook to lose its raw, chalky taste. The recipe gives the same time for either thickener, but cornstarch generally thickens and clears in a few minutes over a double boiler and can thin again if held much longer, especially with the lemon juice present.
- 1/4 cup starch is a lotWith only half a cup of water this sets very stiff, which is what makes it spreadable and stable between layers. If it goes past spreadable to sliceable, beat in a spoonful of hot water while it is still warm.
- Dried figs, not freshHalf a pound of dried figs is meant. Stem them before grinding, and if they are hard, soak them in warm water for twenty minutes and drain.
- Food chopperThe hand-cranked grinder of the period. A food processor pulsed to a coarse paste does the same job; avoid reducing it to a purée, as a little texture is the point.
- Double boilerWorth using as written. A thick fig-and-starch paste scorches readily over direct heat, and the burnt note is unfixable.
- YieldEnough to fill a two- or three-layer 8- or 9-inch cake. Cool to room temperature before spreading, as the recipe directs, or it will soak into the crumb.
Cooked fruit fillings like this one belonged to a period when American home bakers were building tall layer cakes and wanted something between the layers that would keep without refrigeration. Dried figs were a cheap and reliable pantry staple in the early twentieth century, shipped in pressed blocks or strings from Smyrna and, increasingly, from California, and they turn up often in cake fillings, steamed puddings and cookie bars of the era. Rice flour as a thickener is the more telling detail: it was used in household cookery as an alternative to cornstarch, giving a set without the slick, glassy quality cornstarch can have.