Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Paste

A sweet almond paste made with ground almonds, icing sugar, egg whites, rosewater, and a pinch of salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Paste

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. Combine the ground almonds and icing sugar in a bowl.

  2. Whisk the egg whites with a tiny pinch of salt until stiff.

  3. Add the rosewater to the egg whites and mix well.

  4. Incorporate the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Spread and harden

  1. When smooth and elastic, spread the paste evenly on the cake using a knife dipped in hot water.

  2. Ensure the edges are tidy and place in a cool oven to harden without browning.

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 + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ground almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour that form the paste's body.
Icing sugar
Adds sweetness and fine texture, helping the paste stay smooth and pliable.
Egg whites
Whisked to foam, they bind the almonds and sugar into an elastic paste.
Rosewater
Adds a floral aroma that flavours the paste.

The step that matters

Incorporating the egg whites into the dry ingredients. Folding and mixing thoroughly keeps the whisked foam from collapsing unevenly, so the paste becomes smooth and elastic rather than lumpy or runny. Under-mixing leaves pockets of dry almond and sugar that crack when spread.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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.

More almond paste recipes

Tartlets 6Bonbons 3Cake 3Filling 3 See all 105 →

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes