Name: Almond Cake
Ingredients: ½ pound sweet almonds; 2 egg whites; ½ pound sifted sugar; Wafers for serving

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 Cake

Ingredients

½ pound sweet almonds
2 egg whites
½ pound sifted sugar
Wafers for serving

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 the almonds

Blanch the almonds and cut them into quarters.
Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and dry them in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

Assemble and bake

In a bowl, mix the egg whites and sifted sugar until well combined.
Place the almond mixture under the egg and sugar mixture on the baking sheet.
Bake for 1 hour.

Cool

Let the cake cool on wafers for 3 to 4 hours.

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.

Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sweet almonds: Provide the main body and nutty flavor of the cake.
Egg whites: Set during baking to give the cake structure and hold it together.
Sifted sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.