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Dessert

Almond Cakes

Almond cakes are a sweet baked dessert made with sugar, flour, eggs, almonds, and citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Beat the eggs thoroughly.

  2. Add the sugar, chopped citron, and blanched, halved almonds to the eggs and mix well.

  3. Gradually sift the flour into the mixture and combine.

  4. Pour the batter into shallow, well-buttered tins.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until done.

  2. Once baked, roll the cakes in powdered almonds and sugar.

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. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Eggs
Beaten eggs trap air and provide structure as the cakes set in the oven.
Flour
Provides the starch and gluten framework that holds the cakes together once baked.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown and develop a crisp outer crust.
Almonds
Add nutty flavour and a firm, slightly chewy texture to the crumb.
Citron
Adds candied citrus flavour and aroma throughout the cakes.

The step that matters

Gradually sift the flour into the mixture and combine. Adding flour slowly and mixing gently keeps the batter light. Overmixing develops too much gluten, which can make the cakes tough and dense.

“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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