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Berlin Pudding

A steamed almond and egg pudding made with flour, butter, sugar, milk, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Berlin Pudding

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 ↓

Berlin Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch, peel, and finely shred the almonds, then dry them in a cool oven (300°F / 150°C).

Make the base

  1. Sift the flour and mix it with half the milk to form a smooth batter.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the remaining milk and butter, and bring to a boil.

  3. Add the sugar, batter, and salt to the boiling mixture, stirring until it thickens.

  4. Let the mixture cool slightly, then beat in each egg yolk separately.

  5. Stir in the almonds and fold in the stiffly whipped egg whites.

Steam and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into one large or eight small well‑buttered molds.

  2. Steam the large pudding for 1.5 to 2 hours, or the small ones for about 40 minutes.

  3. Serve with custard sauce or another sweet sauce.

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

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

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

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

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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
Egg yolks thicken the batter and whipped whites give the pudding a light, airy structure.
Flour
Starch thickens the milk mixture as it boils, giving the pudding body and a set texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a tender crumb.
Almonds
Finely shredded nuts add texture and a nutty flavour to the pudding.
Milk
Provides liquid that the flour starch thickens, forming the custard-like base.
Castor sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the butter and eggs.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that lightens the pudding. Stirring them in vigorously or letting the mixture get too warm can deflate them, leaving a dense result.

“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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