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Baked Welsh Cake Cheesecake

A Welsh take on the classic cheesecake. The chunky Welsh cakes stirred into the mixture add an interesting texture.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,222 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 8
Prep30 min
Cook2 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20cm (8in) springform tin with baking paper. Rub the lard and 120g (4½oz) butter into the self-raising flour and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs.

  2. Stir in the caster sugar, chopped white chocolate and dried cranberries. Beat the 2 eggs with the milk, add to the dough and mix to a soft dough, adding a little more milk only if dry.

  3. Press the dough evenly into the base of the tin. Bake for 15 minutes until just firm, then remove and reduce the oven to 160°C (325°F).

  4. Crush the digestive biscuits finely. Mix with the melted 50g (1¾oz) butter, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg, then spread evenly over the warm base and press down lightly.

  5. Beat the cream cheese, 175g (6oz) caster sugar, plain flour and vanilla essence until smooth. Beat in the 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk one at a time, then mix in the soured cream.

  6. Pour the filling over the biscuit layer and smooth the top. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes until the edges are set and the centre barely wobbles. The centre must reach 160°F (71°C).

  7. Turn off the oven, prop the door open slightly and leave the cheesecake inside for 30 minutes. Then cool completely in the tin on a rack.

  8. Chill the cheesecake for at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove the sides, slice and serve cold.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Milk + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together12,647 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Chocolate + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Chocolate + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together9,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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