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 ↓
Cherry and Almond Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter and castor sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Fold in the chopped glace cherries and almonds.
Sift the flour (and baking powder if using ordinary flour) and gently fold it into the mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased cake tin and smooth the top.
Bake
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
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 + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy texture when creamed.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Self-raising flour
- Provides the main structure of the cake; the raising agent lets it rise and become light.
- Glace cherries
- Add moisture, sweetness and fruity flavour through the batter.
- Almonds
- Add nutty flavour and a slightly firm texture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Folding in the flour. Gentle folding keeps the air trapped by creaming and beating in the batter, so the cake rises light instead of dense and tough from overworked gluten.
“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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