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Dessert

Almond Pudding

A baked pudding made from almonds, tapioca, sponge cakes, milk, brandy, eggs, curd, butter, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Almond Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a warm oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pound the almonds with tapioca in a mortar, adding a little cream or milk to prevent oiling.

  2. In a basin, combine the sponge cakes and milk, then add the brandy.

  3. Whip the eggs to a froth and mix them with the sponge cake mixture until smooth.

  4. Add the curd, butter, and enough sugar to sweeten, mixing well.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a dish and garnish the top with sliced almonds.

  2. Bake in a warm oven at 300°F (150°C) until set.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Brandy + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 nutty flavour and body of the pudding.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it into a custard-like texture when baked.
Sponge cakes
Soak up the milk and brandy, giving the pudding a soft, tender crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, helping the mixture become smooth and pourable.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
Tapioca
Thickens the mixture slightly, helping it hold together as it sets.

The step that matters

Pound the almonds with tapioca and a little cream or milk. Adding liquid while pounding keeps the almonds from releasing their oil and turning greasy, which would spoil the smooth texture of the pudding.

“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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