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Dessert

Almond Simnel Cake

A layered cake with almond paste, currants, and lemon peel, baked and iced with almond paste.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Simnel Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line a cake tin with well-buttered paper.

Make the cake mixture

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  3. Sift in the flour, nutmeg, and mace, and mix until combined.

Make the almond paste and assemble

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the ground almonds, castor sugar, and 2 eggs to form a paste.

  2. Spread a layer of almond paste in the bottom of the tin.

  3. Pour in half of the cake mixture, then add another layer of almond paste.

  4. Top with the remaining cake mixture.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

  2. Once cooled, ice the top with more almond paste made with only the egg whites.

  3. Decorate as desired with white icing.

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 + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure, moisture and richness to the cake.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb to the cake.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender texture when creamed with butter.
Ground almonds
Add nutty flavor and moisture to the almond paste layers.
Currants
Add chewy texture and sweetness through the cake.

The step that matters

Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating butter and sugar until light and fluffy traps air in the fat, which helps the cake rise and gives it an even, tender crumb. Under-creaming leaves a denser cake.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, lemon, sugar, almond, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, lemon, sugar, almond, nutmeg. 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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