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Dessert

Almond Icing for Cakes

A glaze made from almonds, sugar, egg whites, and rose water, used to coat baked cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Icing for Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almond paste

  1. Blanch the almonds.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar to a paste.

  3. Add a little rose water to the paste.

Make the icing

  1. Whisk the egg whites to a strong froth.

  2. Mix the frothy egg whites with the pounded almonds.

  3. Stir in the sugar.

  4. Beat the mixture well.

Ice and dry

  1. Once the cake is baked, spread the almond icing on top.

  2. Return it to the oven to dry.

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 + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the bulk of the paste, giving the icing its body and nutty flavour.
Egg whites
Whisked to a froth, they lighten the mixture and help bind it together.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the icing and adds body, helping it dry to a firm, pale finish.

The step that matters

Whisk the egg whites to a strong froth. Egg whites hold air only when whisked to a firm foam. If they are under-whisked, the icing stays dense and will not lighten or set properly when dried.

“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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