Name: The Ultimate Makeover: New York Cheesecake
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Yield: Cuts into 10 slices
Ingredients: 35g butter; 85g reduced-fat digestive biscuits , finely crushed; 2 x 300g/11oz tubs light soft cheese, we used Philadelphia cheese , at room temperature; 175g golden caster sugar; 3 tbsp cornflour; 1½ tsp finely grated lemon zest , preferably using a Microplane grater; 1 tsp lemon juice; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 3 eggs , room temperature, beaten; 150g fromage frais; 25g golden caster sugar; 225g punnet blueberries; ½ tsp finely grated limes zest; 100g fromage frais

Why it works: Lemon and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,289 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Lemon + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,289 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Biscuit + limetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together31 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Biscuit + vanillatop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together422 recipes

Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Swap the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, biscuit, cheese, sugar, lemon, vanilla, egg):

Figfits better
Blackberryfits better
Blueberryfits better
Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, biscuit, cheese, sugar, lemon, vanilla, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Biscuit	1 medium (45g)	166
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Blueberry	1 cup (148g)	84
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11

The Ultimate Makeover: New York Cheesecake