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Almond-paste Filling

A sweet almond paste used as a cake filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond-paste Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. Blanch the sweet almonds and pound them into a paste in a mortar.

  2. Add a few drops of rose water occasionally to prevent oiling.

  3. Mix the almond paste with an equal weight of powdered sugar.

  4. Moisten the mixture with the egg white.

  5. Allow the mixture to dry slightly.

Assemble

  1. Spread the dried mixture on thin layers of cake cut into neat shapes, or use as filling for Archangel Cake.

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 + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,584 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main bulk and nutty flavour of the paste.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the paste hold together as it is mixed.
Egg white
Moistens the mixture so it binds and can be spread, then dries to a firmer set.
Bitter almonds
Add a sharper, more intense almond aroma in small amounts.

The step that matters

Adding rose water gradually while pounding. Almonds release oil as they are ground, and the paste can separate or turn greasy if it becomes too wet or heats up. Adding liquid in small amounts keeps the paste smooth and emulsified.

“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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