Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Almond Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the almonds
Blanch the sweet and bitter almonds.
Dry the almonds in a cool oven.
Pound the almonds to a paste with the orange-flower water.
Make and shape the dough
Mix the almond paste with the flour, butter, sifted sugar, lemon rind, and egg yolks to form a paste.
Shape the mixture into small cakes.
(Optional) Roll some cakes into balls.
Flatten the balls.
Apply an egg wash.
Sprinkle with nonpareil comfits or coarse sugar.
Bake and serve
Place the cakes on buttered baking sheets.
Bake in a slow oven at 300 °F (150 °C) until firm, crisp, and golden brown.
Place a tin plate over the cakes and add a slight weight until cool.
Serve the cakes or spread with rich preserves and arrange in a pyramid.
Bake the balls.
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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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Sweet almonds
- Provide the main almond flavor and the bulk of the paste.
- All-purpose flour
- Gives the paste structure so the cakes hold their shape while baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the baked cakes.
- Sifted sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown in the oven.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the paste and add richness and color to the cakes.
The step that matters
Bake in a slow oven until firm, crisp, and golden. A low temperature dries the cakes gradually so they firm up and crisp without browning too fast on the outside. Removing them once golden keeps them from turning bitter.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, flour, butter, sugar, lemon, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, flour, butter, sugar, lemon, egg. 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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