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Dessert

Custard Slices

A pastry slice topped with custard, whipped almond mixture, and browned almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Custard Slices

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 the base

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

  2. Roll out the pastry into a thin square and place it on a baking sheet.

  3. In a bowl, mix the cake crumbs, ground almonds, and apricot jam.

  4. Add the melted butter to the mixture and spread it over the pastry.

  5. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

Add the topping and finish

  1. Once cool, cover the pastry with the pastry custard.

  2. Whip the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar and essence of almonds.

  3. Spread the whipped mixture over the custard and sprinkle with browned almonds.

  4. Let it dry in a cool oven.

  5. Cut into finger lengths when cold.

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. Almond + apricottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  3. Butter + apricottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,458 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff foam, they form the light, set meringue topping.
Puff or flaky pastry
Bakes into a crisp, flaky base that holds the layers.
Pastry custard
Provides a thick, creamy middle layer that softens the crisp base.
Cake crumbs
Add bulk and a tender texture to the almond base layer.
Sugar
Sweetens the meringue and helps it hold its structure when whipped.
Ground almonds
Add nutty flavour and richness to the almond base layer.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff before the sugar is added gradually, so the foam holds its shape and sets properly. Under-whipped or deflated whites will make a flat, weeping topping.

Swap the apricot

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, almond, 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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