Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Almond Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Beat the sugar with the egg yolks until well combined.
Whip the egg whites to a stiff froth and fold into the mixture.
Add the flour, pounded sweet and bitter almonds mixed with rose water, and thick cream.
Bake and frost
Pour the batter into a cake pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Use the reserved egg whites to make frosting for the cake.
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.
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the batter with fat and richness, giving a tender crumb.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff froth, they add air and lift to the batter as it bakes.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Sweet and bitter almonds
- Add nutty flavour and fat, contributing moisture and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps keep the cake moist and tender.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whites must be whipped to a stiff froth and folded in gently. Overmixing deflates the air bubbles, so the cake bakes up denser instead of light.
“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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