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. Gateau d'Amandes.
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the milk.
Gradually mix in the flour and the egg whites alternately, beating until light.
Stir in the lemon extract.
Pour the batter into jelly tins.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Cool and fill
Cool the layers.
Add filling.
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the almonds.
Peel the almonds.
Pound the almonds into a flour.
Make the frosting and assemble
Beat the egg whites to a froth.
Mix in ½ cup of sugar for frosting.
Spread the frosting on the bottom layer of cake.
Add a layer of almonds.
Add another layer of frosting.
Repeat the process with additional layers until the top layer is reached.
Sprinkle with white sugar or ice as desired.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Beaten air and protein give the batter lightness and help it set during baking.
- Butter
- Fat coats the flour and adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the cake tender and moist.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the layers to rise.
- Almonds
- Ground into flour, they add nutty flavour and body to the layers.
The step that matters
Gradually mix in the flour and the egg whites alternately, beating until light.. Adding flour and whipped egg whites in alternating portions keeps the batter airy and prevents lumps. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten and makes the cake tough.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, butter, flour, egg, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, butter, flour, egg, 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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