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Dessert

Cocoanut and Almond Cake

A moist cake made with coconut, almonds, and rose water, layered with icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Cocoanut and Almond Cake

Why it works: Nutmeg and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Cocoanut and Almond Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and nutmeg.

  4. Mix well, then add the milk, egg whites, and flour alternately.

  5. Gently fold in the grated coconut.

  6. Divide the batter into four jelly cake tins and bake until golden.

Make the almond filling

  1. For the filling, blanch the almonds, then let them cool and dry.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding rose water gradually.

  3. Reserve about two dozen almonds to shred for topping.

Assemble and finish

  1. Mix the almond paste into the icing after it is made.

  2. Spread the icing between the cooled cakes, making the top layer thicker.

  3. Press the shredded almonds onto the top layer and let it harden in the oven without scorching.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whisked stiff, they trap air and give the cake its light, risen structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once set by heat.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps give it a fine texture.
Sweet almonds
Pounded into paste, they add nutty flavour and body to the filling.
Grated coconut
Adds moisture and a distinct coconut flavour to the batter.

The step that matters

Let the topping harden in the oven without scorching. Almonds and sugar brown quickly at high heat, so the top can burn before the icing sets. Low, watched heat lets the icing firm up while the nuts stay pale and fresh-tasting.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg, milk, nutmeg, almond):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, milk, nutmeg, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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