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Genoises Aux Avelines —

A sponge cake made with filbert kernels and sugar, finished with a filbert icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Genoises Aux Avelines —

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.

Prepare the filberts and icing

  1. Skin and pound 6 ounces of filbert kernels, reserving one-third.

  2. Use the remaining filberts instead of almonds in the genoises.

  3. After baking, cut the genoises into half-moons without drying them.

  4. In a bowl, mix the reserved filberts with 4 ounces of fine sugar and ¼ of an egg white.

  5. Mask the genoises with this icing for a fine yellow color.

Make the genoises and finish

  1. If desired, pound 4 ounces of filberts and chop the same weight.

  2. Mix the chopped filberts with 2 ounces of sifted sugar and a small amount of egg white.

  3. Before baking, strew the chopped filberts over the paste evenly.

  4. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until light brown.

  5. Once baked, turn the genoises upside down.

  6. Cut as desired.

  7. Return to the oven for a few minutes to dry.

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

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

  2. Filbert + eggtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together86 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Filbert + sugartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together143 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Filbert kernels
Provide the nut base and nutty flavour in place of almonds.
Fine sugar
Sweetens the icing and helps give a fine, smooth texture.
Egg white
Binds the chopped and ground filberts and sugar into a workable paste.
Chopped filberts
Add crunch and nutty flavour to the top of the genoises.
Sifted sugar
Sweetens the topping and helps it cling to the chopped filberts.

The step that matters

Cut the genoises without drying them. Sponge-type cakes dry out quickly once cut and exposed to air, so cut gently and return them to the oven only briefly to avoid a dry, crumbly texture.

Swap the filbert

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

  1. Pecansfits better
  2. Almondfits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Filbertthe original

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.

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