Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond-paste Filling

A sweet almond paste filling made with almonds, powdered sugar, bitter almonds, egg white, and rose-water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond-paste Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. Blanch the sweet almonds.

  2. Pound them into a paste in a mortar.

  3. Add a few drops of rose-water to prevent oiling.

Mix and finish

  1. Mix the almond paste with an equal weight of powdered sugar.

  2. Moisten the mixture with the egg white.

  3. Allow it to dry slightly.

  4. Spread on thin layers of cake cut into neat shapes or use as filling for Archangel Cake.

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 + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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 almond flavour and the bulk of the paste.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the paste and helps it hold together as a filling.
Bitter almonds
Add a stronger, more aromatic almond flavour to the paste.
Egg white
Moistens the mixture so it binds and can be spread.

The step that matters

Add a few drops of rose-water to prevent oiling. Pounding ground almonds releases their natural oils, which can separate and make the paste greasy. Adding a little liquid helps keep the oils emulsified and the paste smooth.

“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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes