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Elegant Rhubarb Cheesecake

"An exquisite cheesecake made with fresh rhubarb and finished with sour cream topping."

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Why it works: Rhubarb and cream cheese work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and 22 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

The recipe

1 9-inch cheesecake
Prep20 min
Cook45 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Mix the flour, 1/4 cup sweetener and butter until crumbly, press into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan, and bake 8 minutes.

  2. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the chopped rhubarb, 1/2 cup sweetener and 1 tablespoon flour for 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and thickened. Let cool slightly.

  3. Beat the cream cheese with 1/2 cup sweetener until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract.

  4. Spread the rhubarb mixture over the crust. Pour the cream cheese mixture over it and bake 35 minutes, until the edges are set and the center reaches 160°F (71°C).

  5. Stir the sour cream with 2 tablespoons sweetener, spread it over the top, and bake 8 minutes more at 350°F (175°C).

  6. Cool the cheesecake at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate at least 4 hours before removing the pan and slicing.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Rhubarb + cream cheesetop 21% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  2. Butter + cream cheesetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,746 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Rhubarb + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together276 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Cream cheese + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,934 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, rhubarb, cream cheese, egg, cream):

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Strawberryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, rhubarb, cream cheese, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).