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Dessert

Tipsy Cake

A sponge cake soaked in white wine, topped with blanched sweet almonds and preserved strawberries or raspberries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: White wine and almond work together. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 331 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Tipsy Cake

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pour white wine over the sponge cake until it absorbs as much as possible.

  2. Stick blanched sweet almonds all over the cake.

  3. Alternatively, pour wine over a thick slice of sponge cake.

  4. Cover the top with preserved strawberries or raspberries.

  5. Stick cut almonds around the edge.

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. White wine + almondtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together331 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

Sponge cake
Its open, airy crumb soaks up the wine, giving a moist, soft texture.
White wine
Adds moisture and a light fruity flavour as it soaks into the cake.
Blanched sweet almonds
Add crunch and a mild nutty flavour to the top and edge.
Preserved strawberries or raspberries
Add sweetness and acidity, plus fruity flavour and colour on top.

The step that matters

Pour the wine until it is absorbed. Sponge cake has an open crumb that soaks up liquid quickly. Pouring the wine gradually lets it absorb evenly, so the cake stays moist without becoming soggy or collapsing.

“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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