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Dessert

Candied Almond Cake , or Gateau Noga

A candied almond cake made by caramelizing powdered sugar with sliced almonds and setting in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and almond 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 ↓

Candied Almond Cake , or Gateau Noga

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candied almonds

  1. Heat the powdered sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until nearly dissolved.

  2. Add the sliced almonds to the sugar and stir continuously until the almonds are a nice brown.

  3. Oil a jelly mold or saucepan well and pour the almond mixture into it, pressing the almonds up the sides.

Serve

  1. Allow to cool, then turn out to serve over burnt cream or boiled custard, or serve as is.

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. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Powdered sugar
Melts into a syrup that coats the almonds and hardens as it cools, providing sweetness and structure.
Sliced almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour, held together by the cooled sugar syrup.

The step that matters

Stirring the almonds until brown. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to caramelise, so the almonds can scorch if left unattended. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and gives an even golden-brown colour without bitterness.

“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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