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Dessert

Lebkuchen

A spiced almond cake made with eggs, sugar, flour, spices, and almonds, baked and dusted with confectioner's sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Lebkuchen

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.

Make the batter

  1. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the brown sugar.

  2. Beat with a wire spoon for about 10 minutes.

  3. Sift the flour with baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then add to the egg mixture and beat well.

  4. Stir in the chopped almonds.

  5. Pour the batter into a shallow buttered pan.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. While hot, brush with confectioner's sugar thinned with warm water.

  3. Cut into long, narrow slices.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten with the sugar to trap air, giving the batter lift and a light, cake-like structure.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a molasses-based depth of flavour to the batter.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the batter into a sliceable crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the batter rise and become tender.
Blanched almonds
Add texture and fat, contributing crunch and a nutty richness to the crumb.

The step that matters

Beating the egg and sugar mixture. Beating for the full time incorporates air into the eggs, which gives the baked cake its lift. Under-beating leaves a dense result, while the batter should be beaten well after adding the flour so it stays evenly mixed.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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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