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 ↓
Potato Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the base
Pass the baked potatoes through a sieve into a basin.
Add the flour to the potatoes.
Blanch and skin the almonds, then chop them finely along with the mixed peel.
Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs; beat the yolks and stir them into the potato mixture.
Add the chopped almonds, mixed peel, and grated rind of the lemon.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake and serve
Turn the mixture into a buttered cake tin.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour.
Dust with sugar and ground cinnamon before serving.
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.
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Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,514 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Baked potatoes
- Provide the bulk and moist, tender body of the cake.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture, and whipped whites lift it to give a light, airy crumb.
- Almonds
- Add richness and a fine, slightly crunchy texture.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the cake holds together when baked.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown lightly.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Egg whites trap air only when whipped stiff, and folding gently keeps that air in the batter. Stirring hard or deflating the whites makes the cake dense and flat.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, almond, sugar, lemon, egg, cinnamon):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, almond, sugar, lemon, egg, cinnamon. 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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