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 ↓
Nut 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk if the batter is too thick.
Fold in the chopped almonds, lemon peel, baking powder, and flour until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-35 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + nutstop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure as they set and help bind the batter together.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Almond nuts
- Add richness, texture and a nutty flavour to the crumb.
The step that matters
Fold in the dry ingredients gently. Folding until just combined keeps the batter light. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which can make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, almond, lemon, flour):
- Pistachiofits better
- Cashew nutfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, almond, lemon, flour. 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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