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Cocoa-nut Cheesecakes, Good

A coconut cheesecake made with grated coconut, butter, sugar, eggs, and optional flavorings, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Coconut and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cocoa-nut Cheesecakes, Good

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter.

  2. Stir in the sugar.

  3. Add the grated coconut.

  4. Add the egg yolks when the mixture is cool.

Bake

  1. Fill patty pans three-quarters full with the mixture.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) 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. Coconut + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Coconut + rosetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together185 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh coconut
Provides the main body and coconut flavor of the filling.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the filling a tender texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the top turn golden when baked.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it bakes.

The step that matters

Add the egg yolks when the mixture is cool. Eggs begin to set when heated, so adding yolks to a hot mixture can cause scrambling and a grainy texture. Letting the mixture cool first keeps the filling smooth and evenly set during baking.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Coconutthe original

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