Why it works: Red raspberry and almond share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 13 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the crust
Soft coconut macaroon cookie crumbs.
Press crumbs onto bottom of greased 9‑inch springform pan.
Bake at 325 °F for 15 minutes.
Make the filling
Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed on an electric mixer until well blended.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream, whipping cream, sherry and vanilla; pour over crust.
Bake at 325 °F for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill.
Glaze and serve
Heat preserves in a saucepan over low heat until melted.
Strain to remove seeds. Spoon over cheesecake, spreading to edges.
Dollop with whipped cream; top with almonds.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Red raspberry + almondtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Coconut + almondtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,091 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Coconut + cream cheesetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together200 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Sherry + cream cheesetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).
-
Sugar + creamtop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,437 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and help it set into a sliceable custard as it bakes.
- Cream cheese
- Provides the dense, rich body that gives the cheesecake its structure and smooth texture.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and a tangy note that keeps the filling creamy and tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps create a smooth, well-blended batter.
- Soft coconut macaroons
- Form the crumb crust that holds the base together and adds toasty sweetness.
- Red raspberry preserves
- Provide fruit sweetness and acidity for a glossy topping that cuts the richness.
The step that matters
Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan.. Cooling slowly after baking lets the custard-like filling firm up and pull gently from the sides, reducing cracks and sinking; removing the rim too early can cause the cake to crack or split.
Flavor stand-ins for the red raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coconut, sugar, cream, sherry, almond, cream cheese, egg):
- Vanillabetter flavor fit
- Strawberrybetter flavor fit
- Pineapplebetter flavor fit
- Red raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against coconut, sugar, cream, sherry, almond, cream cheese, egg. 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).
“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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