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 says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Cream the butter in a mixing bowl.
Gradually add the sugar and continue to cream until light.
Add the egg whites, one half at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in the lemon juice.
Sift the flour before measuring, then add the flour and cold water alternately to the mixture.
Mix the baking powder with the last half cup of flour and sift it into the batter.
Beat the mixture thoroughly and add the almond extract and mace.
Beat the batter for five minutes after all ingredients are added.
Bake
Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for fifty minutes.
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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Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give a tender, fine crumb.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and help the cake rise and set as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter to aerate the batter and add sweetness and softness.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as the batter sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises.
The step that matters
Beating the batter after the flour and liquid are added. Beating develops gluten in the flour, which can make the cake tough. Yet the creaming and final beating also incorporate air that lifts the crumb, so the timing and amount of mixing must balance these effects.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, flour, lemon, almond):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar, flour, lemon, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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