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Dessert

Almond Obeam Cake

A layered almond cake with a whipped cream and almond topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Obeam 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

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the milk, flour, egg yolks, baking powder, and almond flavoring. Mix well.

  4. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  5. Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.

  6. Divide the batter into layers.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake until golden.

  2. Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks.

  3. Beat the 2 egg whites until stiff.

  4. Fold the powdered sugar, blanched almonds, and vanilla into the egg whites.

  5. Spread the cream mixture over the cooled cake layers.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks and folded in, they lighten the batter and add structure as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the layers rise.
Heavy cream
Whipped to stiff peaks, it forms a light, moist filling and topping.
Blanched almonds
Folded into the cream mixture, they add texture and nutty flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites into the batter. Folding gently preserves the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the layers dense and less risen.

“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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