Name: Genoa Cake
Ingredients: 1 oz pistachio nuts; 2 oz almonds; 3 oz citron; grated rind of 1 lemon; 8 eggs; 1 tablespoon orange flower water

Why it works: Pistachio and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 693 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Genoa 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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Chop the pistachio nuts and almonds finely.
Butter and line a cake tin with parchment paper.

Mix and bake

Mix the nuts, citron, lemon rind, eggs, and orange flower water in a bowl.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
If desired, sprinkle shredded almonds on top before baking.
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours.

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.

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.

Pistachio + almondtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together693 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,634 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pistachio + nutstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together425 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pistachio + lemontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together431 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the batter and set the cake's structure as they cook.
Almonds: Add body, nutty flavour and a tender crumb to the cake.
Pistachio nuts: Add nutty flavour and colour and contribute texture to the batter.
Citron: Adds candied fruit sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pistachio, almond, lemon, egg, orange):

Cashew nutfits better
Brazil nutfits better
Hazelnutfits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pistachio, almond, lemon, egg, orange. 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.