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Dessert

Ramakins

A baked cheese cake made with grated Cheshire and Gloucester cheeses, butter, eggs, and a boiled French roll.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Ramakins

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a mortar, beat together the grated Cheshire cheese, Gloucester cheese, and butter.

  2. Add the yolks of the eggs and the soft French roll, mixing until smooth.

  3. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into small paper pans that are longer than square.

  2. Bake in the oven until golden brown.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,655 recipes

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

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Eggs
Whites are beaten and folded in to lighten the batter, while yolks add richness and set structure.
Cheshire cheese
Provides savory flavor and fat, and helps the batter bind and brown in the oven.
Gloucester cheese
Adds savory, nutty flavor and fat, contributing to the batter's richness and browning.
Unsalted butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb while helping the cheese blend smoothly.
French roll
Soaked in cream until soft, it adds moisture and body to the batter.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold trapped air that makes the cake rise and stay light. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from collapsing and leaving a dense result.

“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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