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Dessert

Almond Pudding

A baked almond pudding made with sweet and bitter almonds, butter, sugar, egg whites, and puff pastry edging.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and butter 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 ↓

Almond Pudding

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.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Scald and peel the sweet and bitter almonds.

  2. Pound the peeled almonds to a smooth paste.

  3. Prepare the almond paste a day in advance for better results.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together the powdered sugar and butter until smooth.

  2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Fold the beaten egg whites into the butter and sugar mixture.

  4. Fold the almond paste into the mixture alternately with the egg whites.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.

  2. Place puff pastry around the edge.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

  4. Grate sugar over the top before serving.

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 + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

  2. Butter + eggtop 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. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 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

Sweet almonds
Provide the main nutty flavour and the bulk of the smooth, moist body of the pudding.
Bitter almonds
Add a deeper, more aromatic almond flavour in a small amount.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the pudding its light, risen structure.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving a tender texture and a smooth, creamy crumb.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the pudding and dissolves smoothly into the butter for an even texture.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air in the whipped egg whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the pudding dense instead of light and risen.

Swap the almond

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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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