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Dessert

Almond Cream Cake

A layered cake with almond cream filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond 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 Cream Cake

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.

Make the cake

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the sweet milk and mix well.

  4. Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until smooth.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the batter.

  6. Divide the batter into three layers and bake in the preheated oven until golden.

Make the almond cream

  1. For the cream, boil the almonds over a kettle of water for a few minutes, then drain and chop finely.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the 2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 1 pint milk, and corn starch.

  3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

  4. Mix in the chopped almonds and let cool before spreading between the cake layers.

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites are beaten to hold air, giving the cake a light, airy structure.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake layers together as they bake.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and adds richness and tender texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the layers rise.
Corn starch
Thickens the cream as it cooks, giving it a smooth, spreadable body.
Almonds
Add nutty flavor and a chopped texture to the cream filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the cream until thickened. Corn starch only thickens once the mixture reaches a simmer and is stirred constantly, so stopping early leaves the cream runny and stopping late can scorch it on the bottom of the pan.

“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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