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Dessert

Macaroon Cheese Cakes

A baked dessert of almond-based batter topped with raspberry jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Macaroon Cheese Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites slightly.

  3. Add the chopped almonds, castor sugar, and almond essence; beat for 10 minutes.

  4. Fold in the rice flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

Assemble and bake

  1. Line patty pans with pastry and spread a little raspberry jam on the base.

  2. Top with a teaspoonful of the almond mixture.

  3. Bake for about 15 minutes.

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 + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped lightly, they add lift and structure to the almond mixture as it bakes.
Chopped almonds
Provide the bulk, nutty flavour and chewy texture of the macaroon filling.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the mixture and helps it hold together and brown in the oven.
Rice flour
Adds a little body so the filling sets rather than spreading too much.
Raspberry jam
Adds fruity sweetness and moisture to the base beneath the almond topping.

The step that matters

Beating the almond mixture for 10 minutes. Beating incorporates air into the egg whites and sugar, which gives the macaroon filling its lift and light texture. Under-beating leaves a dense result, while the folded-in dry ingredients should be added gently so the air is not knocked out.

Swap the raspberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, sugar, rice, flour, egg, cream):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, sugar, rice, flour, egg, cream. 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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