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Dessert

Almond Rock Cake

A sweet almond cake made with blanched almonds, powdered sugar, egg whites, and sliced almonds, baked and dried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Rock Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Mix the blanched almonds and powdered sugar, then pass through a sieve.

Shape and bake

  1. In a bowl, combine the almond mixture with the beaten egg whites and sliced almonds to form a moderately stiff paste.

  2. Shape the mixture into rock shapes and place them on tins lined with wafer paper, spacing them about an inch apart.

  3. Bake for a few minutes until done, then dry for three hours.

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 + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

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

  3. 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

Jordan almonds
Provide the main almond body and flavour, with fillets giving the cake its texture.
Sweet almonds
Add sliced almond pieces that add texture and bulk to the paste.
Egg whites
Beaten to stiff peaks, they add lightness and help the paste hold its rock shape.
Egg yolks
Add richness and moisture, softening the structure set by the whites.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and a fine texture to the almond mixture.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness to the cake.

The step that matters

Forming the moderately stiff paste. Egg whites give lift only if they are not deflated, and the paste must be firm enough to hold its rock shape while baking. Too wet and the shapes spread; too dry and they crack or bake unevenly.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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