Skip to main content
Dessert

Angel Cake

A light, airy cake made from egg whites, sugar, flour, cream of tartar, and bitter almond extract, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Angel Cake

Why it works: Flour and almond 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 ↓

Angel Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Sift the sugar and flour each four times before measuring.

  2. Beat the egg whites to stiff froth.

Make the batter

  1. Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites, stirring very gently.

  2. Sift in the flour in the same manner and add the almond extract.

  3. Pour the batter into an ungreased pan without lining.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 minutes, covering for the first 20 minutes.

  2. When done, turn the cake upside down and place it on cups to allow air to circulate.

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.

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.

  1. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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 into a foam that gives the cake its light, airy structure.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps stabilize the whipped egg white foam.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and protein that set the cake's structure as it bakes.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the egg whites, stabilizing the foam so it holds more volume.

The step that matters

Gently folding in the sugar and flour. Egg white foam holds air only while intact. Vigorous stirring deflates it, which leads to a dense, flat cake, so the sugar and flour should be added gently.

“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.

More angel cake recipes

Marshmallow 6 See all 209 →

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes