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Dessert

Almond Cream Cake

A layered cake with almond cream filling made from powdered sugar, sweet milk, flour, butter, egg whites, baking powder, vanilla, sweet cream, and blanched almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Vanilla and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the cake

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

  2. In a bowl, mix 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup of sweet milk, 3 cups of flour, ¼ cup of butter, 4 beaten egg whites, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth.

  3. Divide the batter into four greased cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the almond cream filling

  1. While the cakes cool, whip 1 cup of sweet cream until frothy.

  2. Gradually stir in ½ cup of powdered sugar and a few drops of vanilla.

  3. Fold in 1 pound of blanched and chopped almonds.

Assemble and frost

  1. Spread the almond cream filling thickly between the layers of cake.

  2. Frost the top and sides of the cake with any remaining cream.

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. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten egg whites trap air and give the cake its light, set structure.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake batter as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the cake crumb.
Sweet cream
Whipped to make a light, moist filling and frosting.
Blanched and chopped almonds
Add nutty flavor and a crunchy texture to the cream filling.

The step that matters

Fold in the almonds. Heavy chopped almonds can sink or deflate whipped cream if folded in roughly. Gentle folding keeps the air in the cream so the filling stays soft and spreadable.

“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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