Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Cakes

Almond Cakes are baked cakes made from ground almonds, powdered sugar, egg whites, and topped with almond strips.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Cakes

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.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix ground almonds and powdered sugar.

  2. Add egg whites and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes.

Shape and bake

  1. Using a tablespoon, shape the mixture into ovals on white paper.

  2. Top each oval with 3-4 strips of almonds.

  3. Bake in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) until done.

Finish

  1. Once baked, remove all paper except for what sticks to the bottom.

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

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

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

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

  3. 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

Ground almonds
Provide the bulk and nutty flavour and fat that keep the cakes moist and tender.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the mixture a soft, fine texture.
Egg whites
Beaten into the mixture to add air and bind the ingredients into a shapeable dough.

The step that matters

Baking in a cool oven. A low oven sets the ovals gently and dries them slowly, so they stay pale and moist inside. A hot oven would brown the sugar and almonds too quickly, leaving them scorched outside and underbaked within.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, 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.

More almond cakes recipes

Spanish 3Venetian 3 See all 51 →

You might also like

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