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Dessert

Almond Cheesecakes

A baked almond cheesecake made with ground almonds, sugar, cornflour, butter, eggs, jam, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Cheesecakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

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

  2. Beat the whole egg and egg yolk together.

  3. Gradually add the beaten eggs to the cornflour, stirring until smooth.

  4. Mix in the sugar, ground almonds, melted butter, and nutmeg.

Fill and bake

  1. Line 9 or 10 patty pans with short pastry.

  2. Spread about 1 teaspoon of jam on the bottom of each patty pan.

  3. Fill each pan with the almond mixture.

  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.

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. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Almond + raspberrytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together552 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

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

  4. Raspberry + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Butter + raspberrytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,308 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Ground almonds
Provide the main body and nutty flavour of the almond filling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the filling brown as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set as it bakes.
Cornflour
Thickens the mixture so it holds its shape rather than running.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the filling and aids browning in the oven.
Jam
Adds fruity sweetness and acidity beneath the almond layer.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs to the cornflour. Pour the eggs in gradually while stirring, so the cornflour dissolves evenly without lumps. Adding them all at once can leave lumps that do not smooth out, giving the filling an uneven texture.

Swap the raspberry

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Raspberrythe original

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