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Dessert

Everlasting Cake

A dense almond and citron cake baked in a dripping pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and flour 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 ↓

Everlasting Cake

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.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together.

  2. Add the almonds and floured citron.

  3. Fold in the whipped egg whites and sifted flour.

  4. Pour the mixture into well-greased dripping pans, about 1½ inches thick.

Bake and finish

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

  2. Cut the cake into 1-inch thick slices.

  3. Turn each slice on its side.

  4. Return the slices to the oven for a short time.

  5. Once cooled, store in a tin box.

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 + flourtop 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. Egg + flourtop 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. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Egg and flour 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

Egg whites
Whipped to trap air, giving the cake lift and a light, open crumb.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter into a tender crumb.
Flour
Provides structure so the cake holds its shape as it bakes.
Almonds
Add body, moisture and a nutty flavour to the cake.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps it brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Folding in the whipped egg whites and sifted flour. Folding gently keeps the air in the whipped whites; stirring or beating deflates them, leaving a dense cake instead of a light one.

“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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