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Dessert

Almond Cake

A baked loaf made with flour, sugar, almonds, butter, milk, wine, baking soda, cream of tartar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Almond Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the almonds.

  2. Slice the sweet almonds into thin shreds.

  3. Pound the bitter almonds into a smooth paste.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter.

  2. Add the pounded bitter almonds and sugar.

  3. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Add it to the mixture.

  4. Sift the flour with the cream of tartar. Add it to the mixture.

  5. Add the beaten egg whites.

  6. Stir in the wine.

  7. Stir in the sweet almonds.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into loaf pans.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten framework that gives the cake its structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
Eggs
Beaten whites add air and help set the cake's structure as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter and stabilizes the leavening reaction for a lighter crumb.
Sweet almonds
Shredded into the batter to add texture and a nutty flavor.

The step that matters

Add the beaten egg whites. Egg whites must be beaten to hold air; if they are deflated or overmixed, the batter loses the lift it needs to rise evenly in the oven.

“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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