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Dessert

Almond Sponge Cake

A sponge cake made with blanched almonds, egg whites, sugar, lemon peel, egg yolks, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Almond Sponge Cake

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 ↓

Almond Sponge Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Pound the almonds in a mortar until fine.

  2. Mix in the egg whites, loaf sugar, grated lemon peel, and egg yolks until well combined.

  3. Beat the 12 egg whites to a solid froth and gently fold into the mixture.

  4. Add the sifted flour and mix until just combined.

  5. Prepare a mold and pour in the mixture.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 1 hour.

  2. Carefully remove from the mold and set on a sieve to cool.

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.

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.

  1. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Blanched almonds
Pounded fine to form the cake's body, adding richness and a nutty flavor.
Egg whites
Beaten to a froth, they trap air and give the cake its light, airy rise.
Egg yolks
Add richness, moisture and tenderness to the crumb.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the cake and adds structure as it bakes.
Dry flour
Provides a small amount of structure that helps hold the sponge together.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to a stiff froth and folded gently. Overmixing or deflating them makes the sponge dense and flat, so the foam should be incorporated with a light hand.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, egg, sugar, flour. 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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