Fig Cake
Use rule for Orange Cake. Bake in layers. Fill with Fig Filling, and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
This is an assembly instruction rather than a standalone recipe: it borrows the batter from the book's Orange Cake and the filling from its Fig Filling, and the only new element is the dusting of sugar. A few things need translating before it works in a modern kitchen.
- "Rule" means recipeIn American cookbooks of this period a rule is the formula or recipe itself. You need to turn back to the book's Orange Cake for quantities; nothing here stands alone.
- The orange cake baseCakes of this name in period books are generally creamed butter cakes flavored with orange juice and grated rind, but check the book's own Orange Cake for what it actually calls for. Grate the zest before juicing, and use only the colored part of the peel; the white pith is bitter.
- Layer pans and ovenThe recipe specifies neither pan nor oven. Two or three 8- or 9-inch round pans, greased and floured or lined with parchment, will serve; thin layers of this type are usually baked at about 350-375F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the center springs back.
- Fig fillingLook up the book's Fig Filling for quantities; fillings under this name are typically dried figs chopped fine and cooked down with sugar and water, often with a little lemon juice, until thick enough to hold its shape. Snip off the hard stem ends first, as they stay woody no matter how long they cook.
- Let the filling coolThis is the step that decides whether the cake holds together. Warm fig filling soaks into the crumb and slides out at the edges; spread it only when it is completely cold, and let the layers cool fully as well.
- The sugar finishConfectioners' sugar here replaces a boiled or butter icing, which is why the cake is quick. Dust it through a fine sieve shortly before serving, since it dissolves into a damp cake within a few hours.
- YieldNo yield is given; depending on the Orange Cake rule, a two- or three-layer 9-inch cake serving roughly 8 to 10. Best the day it is made; the fig filling keeps softening the layers on standing.
Lowney's Cook Book was published in 1907 by the Walter M. Lowney Company of Boston, a chocolate manufacturer, and like most trade cookbooks of the era it surrounded its promotional chocolate recipes with a full general household collection. On this page one well-tested cake batter serves for more than one dessert, the fig cake being a variation on the orange. Dried figs, shipped in pressed blocks or strings from Smyrna and later from California, were a cheap and reliably available sweet fruit in the northern winter, which is why fig filling, fig pudding and fig bars all turn up in American books of this generation far more often than fresh figs ever do.