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Dessert

Layer-cakes

Layered cake with almond filling made from butter, sugar, milk, flour, cornstarch, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Layer-cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Thoroughly grease the cake tins, then grease again and wipe off excess with a coarse towel.

  2. To blanch almonds, pour boiling water over them, let stand briefly, then drain and place in cold water to slip off the skins.

  3. Pound the blanched almonds until fine.

Make the cake

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together, then gradually add the milk.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the butter mixture along with the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, and baking soda.

  3. Pour the batter into the prepared jelly tins and bake until golden.

Make the filling and assemble

  1. For the almond filling, beat the whites and yolks of 2 eggs together, then mix in 1½ cups sugar, the pounded almonds, and vanilla.

  2. If using jelly between layers, beat it smoothly and spread it before the cakes cool completely.

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 + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

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

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with sugar to give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks to lift and give the cake its airy structure.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Cornstarch
Softens the flour's gluten, producing a finer, more tender crumb.
Cream of tartar
Stabilizes the whipped egg whites and helps keep the batter light.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity in the batter to help the cake rise and brown.
Almonds
Pounded fine to form the body and nutty flavor of the almond filling.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Whites must reach stiff peaks without being overbeaten or deflated when folded in, since their trapped air is what lifts the cake. Under-whipped or collapsed whites produce a dense layer.

“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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