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Dessert

Almond Cream Cake

A layered cake with almond-flavored cream filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla 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.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the flour, milk, egg whites, cream of tartar, baking soda, and almond extract, then mix until well combined.

  4. Divide the batter into 4 layers.

Bake the layers

  1. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the cream and assemble

  1. For the cream, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks using a mixer.

  2. In another bowl, combine the powdered sugar, chopped almonds, egg whites, and vanilla extract, then mix well.

  3. Once the cake layers are cool, spread the almond cream between the layers and on top.

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 + vanillatop 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. Butter + milktop 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

Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Flour
Its proteins set during baking to form the cake's main structure.
Egg whites
They add structure and help the cake rise and set as they heat.
Cream of tartar
It stabilizes the egg whites, helping them hold their volume in the batter.
Baking soda
Dissolved in milk, it reacts to produce gas that lightens the batter.
Heavy cream
Whipped to stiff peaks, it forms a light, moist almond cream filling and topping.

The step that matters

Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks. Cream whipped too far turns grainy and begins to separate into butter and liquid. Stop once it holds firm peaks that stand up when the beaters are lifted.

“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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