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Dessert

Almond Cheese Cakes

A cake made with almonds, butter, sugar, and egg yolks, flavored with lemon peel and rose water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Cheese Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds

  1. Soak the almonds in cold water overnight.

  2. Blanch them in cold water, then dry on a clean cloth.

  3. Beat the almonds finely in a mortar with a little orange‑flower or rose water.

Make the filling

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and whites, then add the powdered sugar and powdered mace.

  2. Melt the butter and mix in the grated lemon peel.

  3. Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Bake

  1. Line small tins with pastry, fill with the mixture, and bake.

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 + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks and whites
Provide structure and richness, setting the filling as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the filling a tender, smooth texture.
Almonds
Give body and a nutty flavour to the filling.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the filling and dissolves smoothly into the mixture.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, almond, butter, lemon. 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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