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Dessert

Choc Almond Sponge Cake

A chocolate and almond sponge cake made with egg yolks, egg whites, almond paste, flour, chocolate, breadcrumbs, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Choc Almond Sponge 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. Beat the egg whites to a froth.

Make and bake the batter

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks until well combined.

  2. Add the almond paste and mix until smooth.

  3. Fold in the flour, chocolate, and breadcrumbs gently.

  4. Add spices to taste.

  5. Pour the mixture into a prepared cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes.

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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + chocolatetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,733 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Egg whites
Whipped into foam, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy rise.
Egg yolks
Add richness and moisture, and help bind the batter together.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the sponge once it sets in the oven.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb.
Almond paste
Adds moisture, nutty flavor, and a tender texture to the crumb.
Chocolate
Adds deep flavor and a rich, slightly moist texture.

The step that matters

Fold in the flour, chocolate, and breadcrumbs gently. The air trapped in the beaten egg whites gives the sponge its lift. Vigorous stirring deflates that foam, which leads to a dense, flat cake.

“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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