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Dessert

Almond Cake

A baked almond cake with a sweet milk filling and almond topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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 Cake

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.

Make the cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.

  3. Sift together the flour, sugar, cream of tartar, and baking powder 9 times.

  4. Gently fold the beaten egg whites and vanilla into the sifted mixture.

  5. Pour the batter into an ungreased tin.

  6. Bake for at least 4 minutes.

  7. Turn the pan upside down on a cloth to cool.

Make the filling

  1. Boil 1 pint of sweet milk for the filling.

  2. Dissolve 3 tablespoons of flour in ½ cup of reserved sweet milk.

  3. Add the dissolved mixture to the boiling milk.

  4. Stir in the egg yolks and butter.

  5. Cook until thick, then remove from heat.

  6. Mix in the chopped almonds.

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. Vanilla + milktop 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. Cream + buttertop 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

Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that traps air and gives the cake its light, rising structure.
All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten network that sets the cake's crumb and thickens the filling.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the whites, helping the foam stay stable and hold its volume.
Egg yolks
Their proteins set when heated, thickening the filling and adding richness.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the filling a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Chopped almonds
Add nutty flavour and a crunchy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whipped whites. Stirring or beating them back down makes the cake dense and flat instead of light.

“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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