Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Genoa Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Blanch the almonds.
Cream the butter until smooth, then add the sugar and cream again thoroughly.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix and fill
Add the sultanas, lemon rind, candied peel, and half of the sliced almonds.
Pour the mixture into a greased and lined cake tin.
Sprinkle the remaining almonds on top.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2 hours, lowering the heat after the first hour.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and traps air when creamed with sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
- Almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a pleasant texture to the cake and its topping.
- Sultanas
- Add sweetness and moist, chewy pockets throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Creaming the butter and sugar thoroughly. Beating butter and sugar well traps air in the fat, which helps the cake rise and become light. Adding the eggs one at a time lets each one blend in fully, so the batter stays smooth instead of splitting.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, flour, butter, sugar, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against almond, flour, butter, sugar, egg. 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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