Name: Spanish Cakes. — Large.
Ingredients: 1½ cups ground sweet almonds; 1 tablespoon bitter almonds; 1½ cups flour; 6 ounces caster sugar; 1 ounce ground cinnamon; 6 eggs; 2 tablespoons light wine; 2 tablespoons rose water

Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Spanish Cakes. — Large.

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Mix the ground sweet and bitter almonds with flour, caster sugar, and ground cinnamon.

Make the batter

Whisk the eggs and add them to a chocolate mill, slowly incorporating the dry ingredients, wine, and rose water.
Mill the mixture until well combined and light.

Bake

Pour the batter into a buttered pan.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until fully cooked.

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.

Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,514 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs: Provide structure and lift, setting the crumb as the cakes bake.
Ground sweet almonds: Supply the bulk of the cake, with fat and moisture giving a tender crumb.
Flour: Adds structure, helping the batter hold its shape while baking.
Caster sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps it brown lightly as it bakes.

The step that matters

Milling the batter until light. Whisked eggs trap air that gives the cakes lift. Over-milling or letting the batter stand can knock that air out, leaving a dense cake.

“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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Spanish Cakes. — Large.