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Dessert

Almond Icing, for Cakes

Almond icing is a glaze made from blanched almonds, sugar, and egg yolks, applied to baked cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Icing, for Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA very cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond icing

  1. Pound the blanched almonds and loaf sugar finely in a mortar.

  2. Pass the mixture through a moderately coarse wire sieve.

  3. Mix the almond-sugar mixture into a paste with the yolks of eggs.

Ice the cake

  1. Spread the almond icing over the top of the baked cake.

  2. Dry the icing before the fire or in a very cool oven.

  3. Once cold, ice the cake with sugar icing.

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 + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Blanched sweet almonds
Provide the fine, oily body that forms the paste's texture and flavor.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and bulk, and helps the almond paste hold together.
Egg yolks
Bind the almond and sugar into a spreadable paste and add richness.

The step that matters

Dry the icing before the fire or in a very cool oven. Drying slowly at low heat firms the almond paste without browning or cracking it. Too much heat can scorch the surface or make it split before the sugar icing is applied.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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