Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Sponge Cake

A light cake made with almonds, eggs, sugar, flour, and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Almond Sponge Cake

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 Sponge Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the almonds

  1. Pound the almonds very fine and pour 4 tablespoons of boiling water over them.

  2. Let the almonds simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Make the batter

  1. Separate the eggs.

  2. Add the sugar and prepared almonds to the yolks.

  3. Whisk the egg whites until very stiff and dry.

  4. Gently fold in the egg whites and flour, half at a time, being careful not to beat.

  5. Butter and line your pan with parchment paper.

  6. Pour in the batter and 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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites provide the air and structure that let the sponge rise and set.
Flour
Gives the sponge its set structure once the batter bakes.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps stabilise the egg yolks into a smooth batter.
Blanched bitter almonds
Add nutty aroma and moisture to the batter.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only when whisked stiff and dry. Beating after folding in the flour knocks that air out, so the cake bakes flat and dense. Fold gently, half at a time, to keep the batter light.

“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.

You might also like

Almond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipesAlmond Paste TartletsAlmond Paste Tartlets10 recipes