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 ↓
Queen Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter with the rose water.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Incorporate the beaten eggs and flour, mixing until smooth.
Fold in the almond paste.
Bake
Butter a round cake tin and line it with white paper.
Pour the mixture into the tin, filling it 1½ inches deep.
Bake for 1 hour in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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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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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Rose + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and give a rich, tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Fine white sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and hold moisture.
- Almonds
- Add moisture, richness and a dense, tender texture.
The step that matters
Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating butter with sugar traps air in the fat, which helps the cake rise and gives a light texture. Butter that is too cold or too warm will not hold air well, so the batter can turn out dense.
“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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