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Dessert

Angel Cake

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

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 cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

Make the batter

  1. In a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat for one minute.

  2. Sift in the cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

  3. Sift the sugar and gradually beat it into the egg whites.

  4. Add the almond extract.

  5. Sift the flour five times before measuring, then gently fold it into the egg mixture quickly and lightly.

Bake and cool

  1. Line the pan with parchment paper, do not grease it.

  2. Pour the batter into the pan, cover it, and place it in the preheated oven.

  3. After 30 minutes, remove the cover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

  4. Once baked, invert the pan to cool, ensuring air can circulate underneath.

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, they create the airy structure that lifts the cake.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and stabilizes the whipped egg white foam.
Cream of tartar
Stabilizes the egg white foam, helping it hold its peaks during mixing and baking.
All-purpose flour
Provides the light structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
Almond extract
Adds aroma and flavor to the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour. Overmixing or deflating the whipped egg whites releases the air that makes the cake rise. Folding the sifted flour gently and quickly keeps the foam intact and the crumb tender.

“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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