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Dessert

Almond Icing for Cakes

A sweet almond icing made with powdered sugar, almonds, egg whites, and rose water, used to top baked cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Icing for Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the icing

  1. Blanch the almonds and pound them in a mortar to a paste, adding a little rose water to help.

  2. Whisk the egg whites to a strong froth.

  3. Mix the pounded almonds with the egg whites, then stir in the sugar and beat all together.

  4. Ensure the mixture is smooth by beating it well before applying it to the cake.

Finish the cake

  1. Once your cake is baked, spread the almond icing on top and place it in the oven to dry.

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 + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the bulk of the icing and its nutty flavour and body.
Egg whites
Bind the almond paste and give the icing a light, smooth structure when beaten.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the icing and helps it set into a firm, dry surface.

The step that matters

Beating the mixture smooth. If the almond paste and egg whites are not beaten thoroughly, the icing stays lumpy and uneven, and it will not spread or dry evenly on the cake.

“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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