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 ↓
Seed 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
Cover the almonds with boiling water, remove the skins, and cut them into rough pieces.
Cut the orange peel into very small thin pieces.
Prepare a cake tin by greasing it with lard.
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar with the back of a wooden spoon until it reaches the consistency of thick cream.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until very light.
Gradually add the eggs and flour to the butter and sugar mixture, stirring well continuously.
Once all ingredients are combined, stir in the almonds and orange peel.
Pour the mixture into the tin.
Bake
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1.5 hours.
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.
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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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, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs add air and, as they set in the oven, give the cake its structure.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Sugar
- Creams with the butter to aerate the batter and adds sweetness and browning.
- Almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a moist, slightly chewy texture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Beating the butter and sugar to a thick cream. Beating sugar into butter creates tiny air pockets that expand in the oven and give the cake its lightness. Under-beating leaves a dense cake, while the eggs and flour must then be added gradually so the batter does not curdle or deflate.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, almond, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, almond, egg. 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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