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Dessert

Angel Cake

A light, airy cake made from beaten egg whites, powdered sugar, flour, and almond extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Angel Cake

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 ↓

Angel Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. Gradually add the powdered sugar while continuing to beat.

  4. Sift the flour four times, adding the cream of tartar during the last sift.

  5. Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture along with the bitter almond extract and salt.

Bake and cool

  1. Pour the batter into a chimney mold without greasing it.

  2. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes.

  3. Once baked, turn the mold upside down in a colander to cool.

  4. Gently coax the cake out of the mold.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
Powdered sugar
Stabilizes the whipped whites and adds sweetness while keeping the foam fine and smooth.
All-purpose flour
Provides light structure that sets the cake's crumb once the batter bakes.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the egg whites, helping them whip to a more stable, voluminous foam.

The step that matters

Folding the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped whites intact. Stirring or deflating the batter causes it to lose volume and produce a denser cake.

“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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