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Dessert

Almond Oake

A layered almond cake with cream, spices, and jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 Oake

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.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the milk and eggs, mixing well.

  4. Stir in the baking powder and flour until combined.

Make the cream mixture

  1. In another bowl, whip the thick cream and powdered sugar until smooth.

  2. Fold in the chopped almonds and egg whites.

  3. Add the spices, molasses, and fruit to the cream mixture.

Bake and assemble

  1. Layer the cake batter and cream mixture in a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake until golden brown, then cool.

  3. Spread jelly between the layers and frost the top.

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. Butter + almondtop 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

Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it sets.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure, moisture and richness as they set in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the crust brown as it bakes.
Almonds
Add texture and a nutty flavour to the cake and cream layer.

The step that matters

Fold in the chopped almonds and egg whites. Egg whites trap air that gives lift and lightness. Folding gently keeps that air in, while vigorous stirring deflates the whites and leaves the cake dense.

Swap the cassia

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cream, almond):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Cassiathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cream, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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