Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
An 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, work the butter with your hands until creamy.
Gradually add the flour to the butter, mixing well.
Whisk the eggs until frothy, then add to the butter and flour mixture.
Stir in the ground almonds, mace, and nutmeg until combined.
Bake
Grate a little sugar over the top before baking.
Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan and bake for 1.5 hours.
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.
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Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,115 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Butter
- Creamed with the sugar-free mixture to give the cake richness, tenderness and a fine crumb.
- Eggs
- Whisked to add foam and structure, helping the cake rise and set as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as the batter sets.
- Sweet almonds
- Add body, moisture and a nutty flavour to the crumb.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the surface as it bakes.
The step that matters
Whisking the eggs until frothy. Air whisked into the eggs gives the batter lift; under-whisked eggs leave a dense cake, while the batter should be combined gently once the flour and almonds are added so the air is not lost.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, butter, rose, almond, nutmeg, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, butter, rose, almond, nutmeg, sugar. 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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