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Dessert

Almond Cheese Cakes

A tartlet filled with a mixture of bitter and sweet almonds, sugar, and egg yolks, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,679 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Almond Cheese Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the egg yolks until creamy.

  2. Pound the bitter and sweet almonds coarsely.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the sugar with the beaten egg yolks.

  2. Add the pounded almonds to the mixture.

Bake

  1. Line tartlet tins with puff pastry and fill with the almond mixture.

  2. Bake until set.

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 + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + almondtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,645 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Bind the filling and set into a rich, custard-like texture when baked.
Bitter almonds
Add a deep, aromatic almond flavour and body to the filling.
Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond bulk and a mild, nutty sweetness to the filling.
Sifted sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps it blend smoothly with the yolks.
Puff pastry
Forms a crisp, flaky case that holds the almond filling while baking.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Underbaked yolks stay runny and the filling will not firm up, while overbaking can make the egg set grainy and dry. Watch for the filling to firm at the centre rather than relying on a fixed time.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Chestnutfits about as well
  4. Milletfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. 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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