Name: Lemon Cheesecakes
Ingredients: rind of 3 lemons, grated; juice of 2 lemons; 3 sponge biscuits, crushed; 6 ounces fresh butter, softened; 4 ounces sifted sugar; ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg; ¼ teaspoon pounded cinnamon; ½ cup cream; 3 eggs, beaten

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Lemon Cheesecakes

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the filling

In a bowl, mix the grated lemon rind, lemon juice, crushed sponge biscuits, softened butter, sifted sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, cream, and beaten eggs until well combined.

Bake

Prepare your pans with puff pastry, then fill them with the mixture.
Top with 2-3 thin slices of candied lemon peel.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until set.

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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Biscuit + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together368 recipes

Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Biscuit + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together312 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the mixture and help it set firm when baked.
Butter: Adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the filling.
Sponge biscuits: Crushed crumbs give body and structure to the filling.
Cream: Adds moisture and a smooth, creamy texture.
Lemon juice: Provides acidity and bright lemon flavour.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, butter, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, cream, egg):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, butter, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, 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.