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Dessert

Almond Cake

A baked almond cake made with flour, sugar, sweet and bitter 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

  1. Blanch the sweet almonds, then slice them thinly.

  2. Pound the bitter almonds into a smooth paste.

  3. Cream the butter in a bowl.

  4. Add the pounded bitter almonds and sugar to the butter.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in the sweet milk, then add the dissolved mixture to the butter mixture.

  6. Sift the flour with the cream of tartar.

  7. Gradually mix the sifted flour into the mixture.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  2. Fold the stiff egg whites into the batter.

  3. Add the white wine to the batter.

  4. Add the sliced sweet almonds to the batter.

  5. Pour the batter into a loaf pan.

Bake

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30-40 minutes.

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. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (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 network that gives the cake its structure.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff foam, they lighten the batter and help it rise and set.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and wine to release gas that leavens the cake.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, stabilizes the whipped whites and works with baking soda to lift the crumb.
Unsalted butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.

The step that matters

Fold the stiff egg whites into the batter. Whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks and folded gently. Overmixing or deflating them releases that trapped air, so the cake rises less and turns denser.

“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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