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Dessert

Almond Cake

A sweet cake with almond custard layers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond 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.

Make the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix sugar and melted butter until combined. Add the beaten eggs and milk, then mix well.

  3. Gradually add flour and baking powder, stirring until smooth.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Make the almond custard

  1. For the custard, scald ¾ pint of milk and sweeten it.

  2. Stir in 3 beaten eggs and let it cool.

  3. Blanch the almonds, then chop or pound them.

  4. Stir the chopped almonds into the cooled custard.

  5. Flavor the custard with vanilla.

Assemble and serve

  1. Spread the almond custard between the cake layers just 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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 set the custard, giving structure to both the cake and the filling.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake crumb as the batter sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing tenderness and flavor to the cake.
Almonds
Add nutty flavor and texture to the custard filling.
Milk
Adds moisture to the batter and forms the base of the custard.

The step that matters

Stirring in the eggs to the scalded milk. Eggs thicken when heated gently but can scramble if the milk is too hot or they are added too quickly. Cooling the custard before adding the almonds keeps it smooth and stable for spreading.

“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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