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 ↓
Date 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Make and bake the batter
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk.
Stir in the almond essence and chopped dates.
Spread the batter in thin sheets on a baking tray.
Bake until golden brown, then ice thickly and cover with stoned dates.
Serve
Cut into tiny squares to serve.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Almond + datestop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together217 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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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).
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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the batter into a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and adds fat for a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, aerated creamed base.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter for an even texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the cake rise and stay light.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk. Adding flour in portions alternated with liquid keeps the batter smooth and emulsified. Adding it all at once can cause lumps and a dense, tough cake.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, flour, milk, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, flour, milk, 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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