Why it works: Almond and flour 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
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
Beat the eggs with the sugar until very light.
Add the almonds, baking soda, and flour; mix well.
Roll out the dough and place it in a flat tin.
Glaze and bake
Brush the top with the egg yolk.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until light brown.
Slice and roast
Cut into long slices, set them on edge, and roast until golden.
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.
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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 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).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Eggs
- Trap air when beaten and bind the dough, giving the cake its structure and moisture.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown as it bakes.
- Unpeeled split almonds
- Add texture, nutty flavour, and fat that keeps the crumb tender.
- Baking soda
- Helps the cake rise and encourages browning.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on top to add richness and a golden colour.
The step that matters
Beat the eggs with the sugar until very light. Beating eggs with sugar dissolves the sugar and whips air into the mixture. That trapped air gives the cake lift and a light crumb, so under-beating leaves it 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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