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Dessert

Almond Cake

A layered almond cake with cream filling and sugar glaze.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 ↓

Almond Cake

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 cake

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the eggs, flour, milk, and baking powder. Mix well.

  4. Divide the batter into two layers.

  5. Bake until golden.

Make the filling

  1. Cook cream, egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch until thick for the filling.

  2. Cool the filling.

  3. Flavor with almond and stir in chopped almonds.

Make the frosting and assemble

  1. Cook sugar and water until it forms a soft ball in cold water for the frosting.

  2. Beat the syrup into the egg white. Flavor to taste.

  3. Spread the filling between the layers.

  4. Top with frosting.

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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the cake crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavor in the creamed batter.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the layers rise and turn light.
Cornstarch
Thickens the cooked cream filling so it sets firm enough to spread.
Egg white
Whipped into the hot syrup to give the frosting a light, airy body.

The step that matters

Cooking the sugar and water to a soft ball. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set into a soft frosting. Too little cooking leaves it runny, and too much makes it hard once it cools.

“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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