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Dessert

Iceland White Fruit Loaf

A light loaf made with egg whites, powdered sugar, sweet cream, brandy, flour, baking powder, almonds, citron, coconut, and lemon extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,093 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

Iceland White Fruit Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. Gradually add the powdered sugar, continuing to beat until well combined.

  4. Fold in the sweet cream and brandy.

  5. Sift together the flour and baking powder, then gently fold into the mixture.

  6. Add the chopped almonds, cut citron, grated coconut, and lemon extract, mixing until evenly distributed.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

  2. Bake until thoroughly done, about 50-60 minutes.

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 + coconuttop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Coconut + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to trap air, giving the loaf its light, airy structure.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the crumb as the loaf bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the loaf rise and become tender.
Chopped almonds
Add body, texture and richness to the loaf's crumb.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and stabilizes the whipped egg whites.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour and baking powder. Gentle folding keeps the air trapped in the whipped egg whites. Overmixing deflates the batter, which can leave the loaf dense instead of light.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, cream, brandy, flour, almond, coconut. 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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