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Dessert

Almond Cheese Cake

A baked dessert made from almonds, curd, sugar, cream, egg yolks, and rose extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Cheese Cake

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.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Soak the almonds in boiling water until the skins come off easily.

  2. Pound the almonds to a fine paste.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the almond paste with curd, sugar, cream, egg yolks, and rose extract until well combined.

Bake

  1. Line patty pans with pastry and fill with the mixture.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10 minutes.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Almonds
Provide the main body, nutty flavour and fat of the filling.
Curd
Adds moisture and a soft, creamy body to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the top brown during baking.
Cream
Adds fat and richness for a smooth, tender texture.
Egg yolks
Set with heat to give the filling structure and richness.
Rose extract
Adds a floral aroma that defines the flavour of the dish.

The step that matters

Baking the filling. Egg yolks set as they heat. Too much heat or time makes the filling curdle, turn grainy and dry. Watch for the filling to firm at the edges and stay slightly soft in the centre, rather than relying only on the clock.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, egg, rose):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Walnutfits less well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, egg, rose. 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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