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Dessert

White Clouds

A light, fluffy cake flavored with almond or rose.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

White Clouds

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the sweet milk and mix well.

  3. Combine the baking soda, cream of tartar, and flour in another bowl.

  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  6. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  7. Add almond or rose flavoring to taste.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lightness and airy structure to the batter.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
White sugar
Creams with butter to aid aeration and adds sweetness and tender browning.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda, helping the cake rise.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while whipped; overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates them, which makes the cake dense. Fold gently until just combined.

“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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