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Dessert

Everlasting Cake

A dense cake made with sugar, sliced citron, blanched almonds, eggs, and flour, baked until done.

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

Everlasting Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until well combined.

  3. Add the sliced almonds and citron to the mixture.

  4. Gently fold in the whipped egg whites and flour.

  5. Pour the batter into well-greased dripping pans, about 1½ inches thick.

Bake and store

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until done.

  2. Cut the cake into 1-inch thick slices across the cake.

  3. Turn each slice on its side and return to the oven for a short time.

  4. Once cooled, store the cake in a tin box.

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 + flourtop 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. Sugar + eggtop 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 whites
Whipped and folded in to lighten the batter and give the cake its airy structure.
Egg yolks
Beaten with the sugar to enrich the batter and add richness and moisture.
Almonds
Add body, texture and nutty flavour throughout the cake.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten that set the crumb once baked.
White sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the yolks form a smooth, well-combined base.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the whipped egg whites and flour. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leaving a dense cake, so the mixture should be folded gently and evenly.

“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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