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Dessert

Quixotic Cheesecake

A cheesecake made with eggplant, chocolate chips, and a walnut crust, topped with a citrus‑ginger sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 21 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Quixotic Cheesecake

12 portions
Oven325°F
Time55 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the nut crust

  1. Combine butter, salt and sugar in food processor. Mix until creamy. Add walnuts, and process until ingredients are smooth.

  2. Place nut mixture into 10-inch deep-dish pie plate. Using spatula, build up sides, and smooth out bottom to form crust. Set aside.

  3. Preheat oven to 325°F.

Make the cheesecake

  1. Slice off stem end of large eggplant. Cut off about 2 inches more, and peel. Cut chunk into 1-inch cubes, and place in food processor. Process eggplant, yielding about ½ cup eggplant purée.

  2. Add eggs, and process. Add salt, sugar and chocolate chips, and process on high speed 1 minute. Add cream cheese and vanilla, and process.

  3. Let chocolate bits stay in mixture, as these sink to form bottom cheesecake layer.

  4. Pour mixture into nut crust.

  5. Slice remainder of eggplant, skin on, into ⅛-inch-thick rounds. Wrap in plastic, and set aside.

  6. Bake 55 minutes, or until center is firm. Remove from oven, and cool at least 30 minutes.

Make the sauce and cook eggplant

  1. Combine orange and lemon juices, sugar, butter, salt, cloves and chopped ginger in large saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until boiling. Reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally.

  2. Place eggplant slices in saucepan, and cook 25 minutes.

  3. Toast walnuts until golden.

  4. Remove eggplant slices from sauce mixture, and arrange eggplant attractively on cheesecake, overlapping slices if necessary.

  5. Add nuts to sauce. Spoon 6 tablespoons sauce, including nuts, over eggplant slices.

  6. Cover cheesecake in plastic or foil, and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Refrigerate remaining sauce.

Serve

  1. To serve, heat sauce over low heat.

  2. Using sharp knife, cut cheesecake into 12 portions, and place on plates. Spoon sauce over each serving, and pass.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

639Calories
13 gProtein
39 gFat
62 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 15 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Eggplant1 cup cubed (82g)35
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Nutnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Walnut + eggplanttop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together30 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Butter + cream cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Walnut + vanillatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,730 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggplant
Provides moisture and a dense, smooth body to the cheesecake filling.
Eggs
Set the filling into a firm custard structure as they cook.
Cream cheese
Gives the filling its rich, creamy texture and tang.
Walnuts
Form the crunchy, toasty base of the crust and topping.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Add sweetness and chocolate flavour, and sink to form a bottom layer.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the filling and sauce and helps the sauce thicken as it reduces.

The step that matters

Baking the cheesecake until the center is firm. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny while overbaking can cause cracking and a dry, grainy texture. Cooling before chilling lets the custard firm fully.

Swap the eggplant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, walnut, egg, chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Eggplantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, walnut, egg, chocolate, cream cheese, vanilla. 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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