Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Cake

A sweet baked cake made with butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg whites, cream of tartar, baking soda, blanched almonds, and almond extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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. Blanch the almonds by soaking them in boiling water for 3 minutes, then transfer to cold water and rub off the skins.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the milk and mix well.

  3. Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.

  4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  5. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

  6. Add the cream of tartar and baking soda, mixing until just combined.

  7. Flavor the batter with almond extract to taste.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

  2. Place the blanched almonds on top of the cake.

  3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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

Eggs whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the cake its light, airy structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and tender texture.
Sugar
Creamed with butter, it helps create a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Cream of tartar
Stabilizes the whipped egg whites and adds acidity that helps the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the batter. Whipped egg whites hold the cake's air. Folding gently keeps that air in, while vigorous stirring deflates the foam and produces a dense, flat cake.

“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.

More almond cake recipes

Coconut 13Filling 7Jordan 7Lemon 7Currant 6French 5 See all 358 →

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesAlmond Paste TartletsAlmond Paste Tartlets10 recipes