Fig Cake
Make the layer cake recipe and between the layers put a filling made by cooking eight good-sized figs with one cup of sugar and onefourth cup of water until thick. Ice the top with the usual icing.
A filling recipe more than a cake recipe: Estes assumes you already have his layer cake and a standard icing to hand. The only real work is getting the fig paste right.
- The hinge: chop the figs firstEight whole figs simmered in a quarter cup of water will not break down into a spreadable filling. Stem them and chop or pulse them fine before cooking, or the layers will slide apart on lumps of fruit.
- Which figsIn 1911 this most likely means dried figs, though the recipe does not say so and gives no variety. Eight good-sized dried figs is somewhere in the region of 4-6 oz; weigh rather than count if you can. If you use fresh figs, cut the water entirely and the sugar by at least half, since they carry their own moisture and sweetness.
- Sugar ratioA full cup of sugar to 6 oz of fruit is high even for a period filling. Two-thirds of a cup gives a filling that still sets and lets the fig flavor through. A tablespoon of lemon juice sharpens it and helps the paste thicken.
- "Until thick"About 10-15 minutes over low heat, stirring, until a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a track that closes slowly. It should mound, not run. Cool it completely before spreading or it will melt the icing and soak the crumb.
- Layer cake temperatureNo oven instruction appears on this page; bake according to whatever layer cake recipe you are using. As a modern default, two 8- or 9-inch pans take roughly 20-25 minutes at 350F, until the center springs back.
- "The usual icing"Estes leaves this to the reader. A boiled white icing (sugar syrup beaten into egg white) or a plain confectioners' sugar and water glaze would both suit the filling.
- YieldEnough filling for two layers of an 8- or 9-inch cake, serving 8 to 10. Doubling it for a three-layer cake is straightforward.
Rufus Estes published Good Things to Eat in 1911, describing himself on the title page as formerly of the Pullman Company's private car service after years cooking on the rails; he was born enslaved in Tennessee in 1857 and the book is among the earliest cookbooks published by an African American author. Its brevity here is characteristic u2014 Estes wrote for people who could already make a layer cake and needed only the variation. Dried figs were a cheap, shelf-stable pantry staple in this period, shipped in pressed blocks from Smyrna and, increasingly, from California, and fig paste fillings turned up everywhere from layer cakes to the commercial fig bars that had appeared in the 1890s. A fig filling let a plain butter cake pass as something more without fresh fruit or refrigeration.