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Dessert

Almond Icing

An almond icing made with egg whites, almonds, sugar, and rose extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Icing

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Pound the almonds into a fine paste with a little sugar.

  2. Add the egg whites, remaining sugar, and extract.

  3. Pound for a few minutes to thoroughly mix.

  4. Transfer to a bowl and use as directed.

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 + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

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

  5. Egg + almondtop 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
Form the bulk of the paste and add oils that give the icing a rich, smooth body.
Egg whites
Bind the almond paste and add moisture, helping it hold together and spread smoothly.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the paste a smooth, stable texture.
Royal extract rose
Adds a rose aroma and flavor to the icing.

The step that matters

Pound until thoroughly mixed. Pounding the almonds fine and mixing until evenly combined breaks down the nut particles and blends the egg whites and sugar throughout. Under-pounding leaves a grainy texture and uneven binding.

“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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