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Dessert

Almond Cake

A baked loaf made with flour, sugar, sweet and bitter almonds, butter, milk, wine, baking soda, cream of tartar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Almond 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 the almonds

  1. Blanch the sweet almonds, cut them into thin shreds, and pound the bitter almonds to a smooth paste.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the softened butter with the sugar and the pounded bitter almonds.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add it to the mixture.

  3. Sift the flour with the cream of tartar and add it to the mixture along with the egg whites beaten to stiff peaks.

  4. Finally, stir in the wine and the shredded sweet almonds.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into loaf pans and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  5. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Egg whites
Beaten to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts and lightens the cake.
All-purpose flour
Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Unsalted butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
An acid that works with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the batter and, creamed with butter, helps give a light texture.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold the air that lightens the cake. Stirring them in too vigorously knocks that air out, so the batter should be combined gently and only until evenly mixed.

“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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