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Dessert

Cocoanut and Almond Cake

A sweet cake made with coconut, almonds, and rose water.

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

Why it works: Nutmeg and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Cocoanut and Almond 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.

Make the batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice and grated peel, and nutmeg.

  4. Alternately mix in the milk, egg whites, and flour until well combined.

  5. Gently fold in the grated coconut.

Make the almond filling

  1. Blanch the almonds, then let them cool and dry.

  2. Pound the almonds in a mortar, adding rose water gradually.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spread the almond mixture between the cooled cakes and on top.

  2. Decorate the top with shredded almonds.

  3. Bake in four jelly cake tins until set but not scorched.

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.

  1. Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 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. Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whisked stiff, they trap air and give the cake its light, set structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Its proteins set during baking to form the cake's main structure.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic lemon to release gas that helps the cake rise.
Sweet almonds
Pounded into a paste, they add nutty flavour and a moist, dense filling.
Grated cocoanut
Folded into the batter, it adds moisture, chew and coconut aroma.

The step that matters

Bake until set but not scorched. Underbaking leaves the cakes soft and likely to sink, while overbaking dries the crumb and browns the surface too far. Checking for a set centre and light colour helps prevent both.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg, milk, nutmeg, almond):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, milk, nutmeg, 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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