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Dessert

Ribbon Cake

A dense almond cake with candied peel, spices, and wine-soaked rye crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ribbon Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the ingredients

  1. Sift the almonds.

  2. Wash and dry the almonds.

  3. Pound the almonds with a little egg white to make a paste.

  4. Dry the bread crumbs.

  5. Pound the bread crumbs.

  6. Sift the bread crumbs.

  7. Toast the bread crumbs in the oven until rich brown.

  8. Soak the toasted crumbs in wine.

  9. Squeeze the soaked crumbs dry.

Make the batter

  1. Combine the sugar and almond paste in a bowl.

  2. Add the egg yolks one at a time until smooth.

  3. Beat the mixture until very light.

  4. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  5. Fold in half of the flour and half of the crumbs.

  6. Add the remaining flour and crumbs.

  7. Mix the mixture well.

  8. Incorporate the mixture into the almond paste.

  9. Gradually add the remaining yolks, spices, and candied peel.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into jelly cake tins to a depth of half an inch.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Rye + cinnamontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together85 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Form the bulk of the cake as a paste, giving a rich, moist, tender crumb.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat, and help bind the batter into a smooth, tender mixture.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the batter and help it rise in the oven.
Flour
Provides structure so the cake holds its shape as it bakes.
Rye bread crumbs
Add body and a toasted flavor, and absorb wine to keep the crumb moist.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps create a light, fine texture when beaten.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites that are under-beaten will not hold air, so the batter stays dense; over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy and collapse when folded in.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, egg, flour, rye, bread, cinnamon):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Turmericfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, egg, flour, rye, bread, cinnamon. 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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