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Dessert

Mocha Tart

A layered mocha cake with whipped cream and almond topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Mocha Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cake

  1. Beat the yolks of 6 eggs until very light.

  2. Add ¾ cup of granulated sugar and heat until dissolved.

  3. Sift 2 teaspoons of baking powder into 1 cup of flour.

  4. Mix the flour and baking powder alternately into the batter with the stiffly beaten whites of 6 eggs.

  5. Add 1 tablespoon of mocha extract and 1 teaspoon of salt.

  6. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven in 2 layers until the cake shrinks from the pan.

Fill and finish

  1. When cold, place ½ pint of whipped cream flavored with 1 tablespoon of mocha extract between the layers.

  2. For the icing, mix 6 tablespoons of confectioner's sugar with a little cold water and enough mocha extract to achieve a honey-like consistency.

  3. Chop and brown ¼ pound of blanched almonds in the oven.

  4. Spread the cake with the icing and sprinkle the browned almonds 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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites trap air for lift, and yolks enrich the batter for a tender crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise and become light.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps give the cake a fine, moist texture.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and richness between the layers, softening the cake's texture.
Blanched almonds
Browned in the oven, they add toasty aroma and a crunchy topping.

The step that matters

Folding the whites into the batter. Stiffly beaten whites hold the air that makes the cake rise. Mixing too vigorously deflates them, so the flour and baking powder should be added alternately and gently.

“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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