Why it works: Almond and flour 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 ↓
A Small Fine Almond Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
In a bowl, combine powdered sugar and egg yolks.
Pound the almonds very fine in a mortar with 1 or 2 egg whites.
Add the almond mixture to the yolks and sugar, and beat well with a wooden spoon.
Whisk the egg whites in a copper pan until stiff.
Gently fold the yolk mixture into the whipped egg whites.
Sift the flour and mix it in gently.
Bake
Prepare a baking pan by lining it with three layers of parchment paper inside and four at the bottom.
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Dust the top of the batter with powdered sugar before baking.
If the top browns too quickly, cover it with one or two sheets of paper.
Bake for about 30 minutes, checking for doneness.
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.
-
Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 give the cake its airy structure, while yolks add richness and moisture.
- Almonds
- Finely ground almonds supply the body and nutty flavour of the cake in place of much flour.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the batter and, dusted on top, helps form a thin browned crust.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds a small amount of starch to give the cake enough structure to hold its shape.
The step that matters
Folding the yolk mixture into the whipped whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped egg whites intact; stirring or beating deflates them, leaving a dense cake instead of a light one.
“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.
More almond cake recipes
You might also like
Almond Sponge Cake26 recipes
Almond Custard22 recipes
Almond Wafers22 recipes
Almond Paste Tartlets10 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.