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 ↓
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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.
Separate the eggs and add one yolk at a time to the butter and sugar, beating continuously.
Gradually add the ground almonds, then the flour, beating well after each addition.
Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture.
Bake and cool
Prepare a medium-sized cake tin lined with buttered paper and pour in the batter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about one hour.
If the cake browns too quickly, cover it with a sheet of clean white paper.
Check for doneness by inserting a clean knife; if it comes out clean, the cake is ready.
Cool the cake on a wire rack or sieve.
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 + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites lighten it and give structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and tender texture.
- Ground almonds
- Add moisture, flavour and a tender, slightly dense crumb.
- Fine flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Castor sugar
- Helps aerate the creamed butter and adds sweetness and browning.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whisked whites trap air that lifts the cake. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the batter and yields a denser, flatter cake.
“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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