Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 15,679 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Gateau Aitx Amandes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Find half a pound of sweet almonds after blanching them.
When reduced to a paste, add half a pound of sugar, half a pound of flour, and six eggs.
Mix all together into a cake.
Bake and serve
Put the mixture on a buttered paper.
Bake it.
Slice it if you will.
Use a flat mould for this cake.
In place of using almonds inside, put currants and citron, and strew the almonds over the top when it is firm.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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 and nutty flavour of the cake, forming its body when ground to a paste.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown as it bakes.
- Flour (in the method)
- Gives the cake structure so it holds together when baked.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help the cake set and rise in the oven.
The step that matters
Strew the almonds over the top when it is firm. Adding the almonds too early, while the mixture is still soft, lets them sink instead of sitting on the surface. Waiting until the cake has set keeps them on top.
Flavor stand-ins for the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Pecansabout as good a flavor fit
- Almondthe original
- Chestnutabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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