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Dessert

Bakewell Pudding

A baked dessert of puff pastry topped with jam and a custard made from eggs, butter, sugar, and almond essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Bakewell Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

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

  2. Cover a baking dish with a thin layer of puff pastry.

  3. Spread a layer of jam half an inch thick over the pastry.

Make the filling and bake

  1. In a bowl, combine the yolks of 8 eggs, the whites of 2 eggs, melted butter, sugar, and essence of almonds.

  2. Beat the mixture well and pour it into the dish, filling it one inch thick.

  3. Bake for one hour.

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. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving the filling structure and a firm, sliceable texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, giving the filling a tender, smooth texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it brown as it bakes.
Jam
Adds fruity sweetness and acidity and a sticky layer beneath the filling.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky base that holds the filling.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture well and fill the dish to one inch. Thorough beating evenly blends the eggs, butter and sugar so the custard sets smoothly. A filling much thicker than one inch may bake unevenly, with a raw centre and an overcooked edge.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Filbertfits less well
  4. Walnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter. 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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