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Dessert

Lemon Cheesecakes

A baked lemon-flavored cheesecake made with sponge biscuits, butter, sugar, spices, cream, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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

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

Make and fill the cheesecakes

  1. 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.

  2. Prepare tart pans by lining them with puff pastry.

  3. Fill the prepared pans with the lemon mixture.

  4. Top each cheesecake with 2 or 3 thin slices of candied lemon peel.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until set and lightly 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Biscuit + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together368 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. 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 filling and help it set into a firm, sliceable custard when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the filling.
Sponge biscuits
Crushed crumbs add body and a slightly absorbent, crumbly texture to the filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps balance the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemon juice
Provides acidity and bright lemon flavour that cuts through the richness.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a softer, creamier texture.

The step that matters

Baking until just set. Eggs set as they heat, so pulling the cheesecakes once they are set and lightly golden keeps the filling smooth and tender. Overbaking makes the egg proteins tighten, leading to a dry, curdled, or cracked texture.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. 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.

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