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Dessert

Amsterdam Pudding

A rich almond and fruit pudding baked in a cake mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Amsterdam Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the sugar

  1. Clarify the sugar by boiling it in the juice of the oranges.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the almonds, butter, half of the sugar, cream, and eggs until smooth.

  2. Combine all the fruit, add the remaining sugar and Schiedam.

  3. Butter a cake mold and layer the almond mixture and fruit alternately until all is used.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2 hours.

  2. Carefully turn out and serve hot or cold.

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 + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

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

  3. Orange + appletop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + sugartop 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

Sweet almonds
Form a rich, dense paste that gives the pudding its body and nutty flavor.
Fresh butter
Adds fat and richness, creating a tender, moist crumb as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set during baking to give the pudding structure.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps browning and a moist texture as it bakes.
Orange marmalade
Adds sweetness, acidity and citrus aroma while keeping the pudding moist.
Thick cream
Contributes fat and moisture, making the almond mixture softer and richer.

The step that matters

Layering the almond mixture and fruit. Alternating layers distribute the moist almond batter and the fruit evenly, so the fruit does not sink or leave dry, uneven pockets as the pudding sets during baking.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, butter, cream, sugar, orange, raisin, apple):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, butter, cream, sugar, orange, raisin, apple. 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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