Name: Tipsy Cake
Ingredients: 1 stale sponge cake; ¼ lb ladyfingers; ¼ lb macaroons; a few blanched almonds; ½ cup sherry; ½ cup brandy; raspberry jam; boiled custard; whipped cream

Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Tipsy Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Divide the stale sponge cake in half and place the upper half, brown side down, in a deep dish.
Layer ¼ lb of ladyfingers on top, followed by ¼ lb of macaroons.
Sprinkle blanched almonds over the cake.
Pour ½ cup of sherry and ½ cup of brandy over the layers.
Spread a thick layer of raspberry jam on top.
Pour boiled custard over the jam layer.
Garnish with whipped 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.

Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Almond + raspberrytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together552 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sherry + raspberrytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together109 recipes

Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
Almond + sherrytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together517 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Brandy + raspberrytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together235 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).