Why it works: Almond and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,093 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓
White Fruit 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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the beaten egg yolks and mix well.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the mixture.
Gradually add the flour, citron, almonds, and grated coconut, mixing thoroughly.
Pour the batter into a mold.
Bake and finish
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick comes out clean.
Ice the cake with almond paste or icing mixed with grated coconut.
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 + coconuttop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,093 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter, while whipped whites add lightness and help the cake rise.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together once baked.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, creamed texture with the butter.
- Citron
- Adds chewy, candied fruit flavour and texture throughout the cake.
- Blanched almonds
- Add crunch and nutty flavour, and their oils contribute richness.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that makes the cake light. Overmixing or deflating them during folding leads to a dense cake, so fold gently until just combined.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, butter, almond):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, butter, almond. 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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