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 ↓
Rice 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter until creamy.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites and whisk the whites until stiff.
Add the egg whites to the butter.
Mix and bake
Stir in the flour, ground rice, and your choice of flavoring.
Beat the mixture well for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the egg yolks and beat again for a few minutes.
Line a baking tin with buttered paper, pour in the mixture, and bake for 1 to 1½ hours.
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.
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,456 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Whisked whites trap air for lift, and the yolks add richness and structure.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds fat for a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that set the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Ground rice
- Gives a fine, slightly crumbly texture that differs from wheat flour alone.
- Castor sugar
- Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites until stiff. Stiff whites hold air bubbles that give the cake its rise. If they are under-whisked or deflated when added, the cake will be denser.
“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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