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 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Sieve the baked potatoes into a basin and add the flour.
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; mix thoroughly.
Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake and finish
Pour the mixture into a buttered cake tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
Turn out onto a sieve to cool, then dust with sugar and ground cinnamon.
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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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- Eggs
- Yolks bind the mixture and whites, beaten stiff and folded in, lighten it and give it structure.
- Baked potatoes
- Provide the moist, starchy body of the cake.
- Almonds
- Add richness, fat and a nutty texture to the crumb.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the cake holds its shape when baked.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown on the surface.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that lifts the cake. Stirring them in vigorously knocks the air out, leaving a dense cake, so fold gently until just combined.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, egg, flour, sugar, lemon, cinnamon):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, egg, flour, sugar, lemon, 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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