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 ↓
Delicate Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar.
Stir in the sweet milk, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy.
Gradually fold the beaten egg whites into the butter mixture.
Sift together the flour and corn starch, then gently fold into the batter.
Add bitter almond extract to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together485 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Egg whites
- Beaten to foam, they trap air that lifts and lightens the cake's crumb.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilises the beaten egg whites and helps them hold their foam.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic ingredients to release gas that helps the cake rise.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Corn starch
- Softens the crumb, giving a more tender texture than flour alone.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and helps trap air when creamed with sugar.
The step that matters
Folding the beaten egg whites into the butter mixture. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Stirring or overmixing knocks out that air, so the cake rises less and turns out denser.
“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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