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 ↓
Almond Hearts
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the paste
Pound the blanched almonds very fine with the whole eggs until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar and lemon raspings, mixing well in a mortar.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl (12-quart capacity).
Whisk in the yolks of 18 eggs, one at a time, whisking for 15 minutes after each addition.
Prepare and bake
Whisk the 24 egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Sift the flour into the almond mixture and gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Butter heart-shaped tins and place six sheets of paper underneath.
Bake in a gentle oven at 300°F (150°C) until set, ensuring they maintain their shape.
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.
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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the batter once pounded fine.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture, add structure when set, and the whipped whites lighten the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the batter become smooth and tender.
- Flour
- Gives the batter enough structure to hold its shape while baking.
- Lemon raspings
- Add aromatic citrus flavour to the almond batter.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites until stiff peaks form before folding. Stiff whites trap air that gives the cakes their rise and light texture. Under-whipped whites collapse, while over-whipped whites turn grainy and break down, so the folding must be gentle to keep the air in.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, egg, flour. 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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