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Dessert

Almond Cakes

A sweet cake made with sugar, eggs, butter, baking soda, sour cream, cream of tartar, flour, and chopped almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix sugar, eggs, and butter until smooth.

  3. Add baking soda, sour cream, and cream of tartar. Mix well.

  4. Gradually add flour until the batter is smooth.

Shape and bake

  1. Cut the batter into round or square shapes.

  2. Sprinkle finely chopped almonds on top.

  3. Bake until golden brown.

  4. Let cool before serving.

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

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavour.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and cream of tartar to lift the batter.
Sour cream
Adds acidity and moisture, and helps the baking soda rise.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that supports rising and keeps the texture stable.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.

The step that matters

Mixing in the baking soda and cream of tartar. Baking soda needs an acid to produce gas, so adding it with the acidic ingredients and mixing well gives an even rise. Adding flour gradually keeps the batter smooth and prevents lumps or overmixing.

“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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