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Dessert

Cocoanut, Citron and Almond Cakes

A sweet cake made with coconut, citron, almonds, sugar, butter, eggs, flour, milk, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Coconut and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,093 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

Cocoanut, Citron and Almond Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA medium oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Gradually add the flour, milk, baking soda, and cream of tartar, mixing until smooth.

Shape and bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a baking sheet.

  2. Strew desiccated coconut on some, chopped almonds on others, and place a small slice of citron on the remaining.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

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. Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air that helps the cakes stay light and tender.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, setting as the cakes bake.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cakes as the batter sets.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cakes rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter, helping the baking soda react and supporting a lighter crumb.
Sugar
Sweetens the cakes and helps create a light, creamed texture with the butter.

The step that matters

Creaming the sugar and butter. Beating until light and fluffy incorporates air that gives the cakes lift. Under-creaming leaves a denser texture, while the eggs added afterward need thorough mixing to blend evenly into the batter.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, flour, milk, cream, almond):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, flour, milk, cream, almond. 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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