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Dessert

Almond Cake

A layered almond cake with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, almond flavoring, sweet cream, corn starch, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Almond Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the cake

  1. Cream the butter and sugar until light.

  2. Add the milk and 2 cups of sifted flour, stirring until smooth.

  3. Mix in the remaining ½ cup of flour with baking powder and the beaten egg whites, stirring lightly.

  4. Bake in 3 round layers or 2 long pans at 350°F (175°C) until very white, not brown.

  5. Cool slightly, then turn out onto a cake board and remove the paper.

Make the filling

  1. For the filling, heat the cream in a double boiler.

  2. Beat the yolks and sugar together, then mix the corn starch with milk until smooth.

  3. When the cream is hot, stir in the yolk mixture and cook until thick.

  4. Cool the filling, then blanch and chop ½ pound of almonds.

  5. Reserve some almonds for decoration, then stir the rest into the filling.

Assemble and ice

  1. Spread the filling between the cooled cake layers.

  2. If using round layers, place them top side down on a large flat plate for better stacking.

  3. Ice the top and sides with boiled 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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Almond + corntop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + creamtop 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

Eggs
Whites are beaten to lighten the batter and help the cake rise and set.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, giving the cake lift.
Egg yolks
Thicken the filling and add richness to its texture.
Almonds
Add flavor and crunch to the filling and decoration.

The step that matters

Bake until very white, not brown. Baking at 350°F only until the layers are pale keeps the crumb tender and the flavor delicate; over-baking dries the cake and browns the surface.

“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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