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Dessert

Cocoanxtt and Almond Cake

A layered cake made with coconut, almonds, and rose water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Cocoanxtt and 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

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

  2. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice and grated peel, and nutmeg.

  4. Mix well, then add the milk, egg whites, and flour alternately.

  5. Gently fold in the grated coconut.

  6. Divide the batter into four jelly‑cake tins and bake until golden.

Make the almond filling

  1. For the filling, blanch the almonds and let them cool and dry.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding rose water gradually.

  3. Reserve about 2 dozen almonds to shred for topping.

  4. Mix the almond paste into the icing after it is made.

Assemble and finish

  1. Spread the icing between the cooled cakes, making the top layer thicker.

  2. Press the shredded almonds onto the top layer and let it harden in the oven without scorching.

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. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Coconut + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together411 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Egg whites
Whisked stiff, they trap air that helps the cake rise and gives it a light texture.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a fine, tender texture.
Sweet almonds
Pounded into a paste, they add flavor and moisture to the filling and icing.
Grated coconut
Adds moisture, flavor and chewy texture to the batter.

The step that matters

Letting the shredded almonds harden in the oven without scorching. Almonds contain plenty of oil and protein, so they brown quickly at high heat. Low, watchful heat dries the icing topping while keeping the nuts pale and sweet rather than bitter.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Coconutthe original

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