Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Lemon Cheese Cakes
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.
Make the lemon filling
Combine sugar, butter, lemon rind, and strained lemon juice in a saucepan; stir until sugar is dissolved.
Beat egg yolks and add them to the saucepan; stir and cook slowly until the mixture thickens.
Let the mixture cool in a dry place until needed.
Bake and serve
Line patty pans with short crust pastry and fill them with the lemon mixture; add a few strips of candied peel on top.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg yolks thicken the lemon mixture as they cook, giving it a set, custard-like texture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the lemon filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Lemon juice
- Provides the acidity and bright lemon flavour that defines the filling.
The step that matters
Cook the mixture slowly. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat. If cooked too fast, they can scramble and turn grainy, so the filling must be stirred and heated slowly until it thickens.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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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