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Dessert

A Trifle

A layered dessert of sponge cake, macaroons, almonds, wine, brandy, lemon, custard, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 388 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

A Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the almonds and flavourings

  1. Pound the sweet and bitter almonds to a smooth paste, adding a little rose water.

  2. Grate the lemon peels and squeeze the juice into a saucer.

Soak the cakes

  1. Break the sponge cake and macaroons into small pieces, mix with the almonds, and layer in a large glass bowl.

  2. Grate nutmeg over the mixture, then add the lemon juice and peel.

  3. Pour in the wine and brandy, and let the mixture sit until the cakes dissolve.

  4. Stir the mixture gently, then mix the cream and sugar with the noyau and beat until it holds peaks.

  5. Spoon off the froth and drain it on a sieve, returning the drained cream to the bowl and beating again.

  6. Once the cream is ready, set it in a cool place.

Assemble and finish

  1. When the custard is cold, pour it over the dissolved cakes in the bowl.

  2. Top with the whipped cream, heaping it in the center.

  3. Optionally, decorate with nonpareils or add a layer of fruit jelly or preserved fruit between the custard and cream.

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. Biscuit + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together388 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

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

  5. White wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together620 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Cream
Whipped into a light, stable topping that gives the trifle its airy finish.
Sponge cakes and macaroons
Absorb the wine and brandy and soften into a moist, spoonable base.
Almonds
Add nutty flavour and body to the mixture when pounded into a paste.
White wine and brandy
Soak into the cakes, adding moisture and boozy aroma.
Egg yolk custard
Forms a rich, creamy layer that sits between the soaked cakes and the cream.
Lemon juice and peel
Add acidity and bright citrus aroma that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Whipping the cream to peaks. Cream must be beaten until it holds peaks, then drained of excess liquid and beaten again; if it is under-whipped or left watery, it will slump into the base instead of standing as a light topping.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, white wine, brandy, biscuit, almond, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, white wine, brandy, biscuit, almond, nutmeg. 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.

More trifle recipes

Apple 48Gooseberry 43Lemon 18Swiss Cream 17Brandy 13Grape 12 See all 115 →

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