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Dessert

Almond Cheesecakes.

A baked almond-based cheesecake with rose water, butter, sugar, lemon peel, cream, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Almond Cheesecakes.

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a warm oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the almonds

  1. Blanch the sweet and bitter almonds, then dry them for half an hour in a warm place.

  2. Pound the almonds very fine in a mortar with the rose water to prevent oiling.

Make the filling

  1. Cream the butter until smooth, then mix it with the pounded almonds, sugar, lemon peel, cream, and eggs.

Assemble and bake

  1. Cover a patty pan with puff pastry and fill it with the almond mixture.

  2. Decorate with slices of candied lemon peel and split almonds, then bake for 30 minutes in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C).

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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 firm, custard-like texture when baked.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the filling.
Sweet almonds
Provide the main nutty body and bulk of the filling once pounded fine.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, making the filling tender rather than dry.

The step that matters

Pound the almonds very fine with the rose water. Almonds release oil when crushed. Pounding them finely with liquid, as the method directs, helps keep the oil dispersed so the filling stays smooth instead of greasy.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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