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Dessert

Russian Cakes

A light almond cake flavored with aniseed, made from egg yolks, sugar, flour, almonds, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Russian Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the batter

  1. Whisk together the egg yolks and powdered sugar until well combined.

  2. Gradually add the flour, pounded almonds, and aniseed, mixing until smooth.

  3. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently until fully incorporated.

  4. Pour the batter into strong paper cases that are about 12 inches long and 3 inches wide and deep.

Bake and crisp

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden and cooked through.

  2. Allow the cakes to cool, then cut them into thin slices.

  3. Return the slices to the oven until they are crisp.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

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

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

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 yolks
Enrich the batter and add richness and colour to the cake.
Egg whites
Whipped to trap air, giving the cake lightness and rise.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and dissolves easily into the egg yolks.
All-purpose flour
Provides structure so the cake holds its shape while baking.
Blanched almonds
Add nutty flavour and moisture, and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Overmixing or deflating the whipped whites releases the air that gives the cake its lightness. Fold gently, just until no streaks remain, so the batter keeps its rise in the oven.

“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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