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Dessert

Almond Cake

A sweet almond cake topped with a cream of eggs, sugar, sour cream, almonds, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 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.

Prepare

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

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

Make the batter

  1. Add the sweet milk, flour, corn starch, egg whites, and baking powder; mix well.

  2. Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan and bake until done, like a jelly cake.

Make the cream and combine

  1. For the cream, beat the 3 eggs separately.

  2. In another bowl, mix the sugar and sour cream.

  3. Stir in the pounded almonds and vanilla.

  4. Gradually add the beaten egg whites to the cream mixture.

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. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (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 together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that makes the crumb tender and rich.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and a mild tang that keeps the cake soft.
Pounded almonds
Add nutty flavor and a dense, moist texture to the cream.

The step that matters

Gradually add the beaten egg whites to the cream mixture. Adding the whipped whites slowly and gently keeps the air they hold from deflating, so the mixture stays light and the cake rises 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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