Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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. 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the sweet milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the beaten egg yolks with the sugar mixture.
Stir in the cream of tartar and baking soda.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Add the sliced almonds and mix until evenly distributed.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites trapped by folding add lift and structure, while yolks add richness and set the crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it helps create a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
- Almonds
- Sliced almonds add nutty flavour and a firm, crunchy texture to the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that reacts with baking soda to leaven the batter and stabilise the eggs.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air bubbles that give the cake its lift. Stirring vigorously knocks that air out, so the cake may bake flat and dense.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, cream):
- Almondthe original
- Pecansfits about as well
- Filbertfits less well
- Walnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, cream. 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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