Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
White Lady-cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat.
Cream the butter in a separate bowl.
Mix the sweet milk and dissolved saleratus into the butter.
Combine the egg mixture with the butter and milk mixture.
Add enough sifted flour to achieve a thick batter.
Stir in the orange-flower water or lemon extract.
Fold in the almond paste until well combined.
Bake and finish
Line a square tin pan with buttered paper and pour in the batter to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
Once baked, remove from the pan and let cool.
Peel off the paper, turn the cake upside down, and ice the bottom.
When the icing is nearly set, slice into finger-width pieces, about 2.5 inches long.
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.
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Wheat + almondtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together264 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they give the cake its light, airy structure.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb to the cake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the milk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Wheat flour
- Provides the starch and gluten that set the batter into a firm cake structure.
- Ground almonds
- Add moisture, richness and a dense, nutty texture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites and almond paste. Folding gently keeps the air whipped into the egg whites, which is what lifts the cake. Overmixing deflates the foam and produces a dense, heavy crumb.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, wheat, flour, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, wheat, flour, almond. 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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