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Dessert

A Trifle

A layered dessert of savoy cake, wine, custard, apricot jam, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

A Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the cake

  1. Layer slices of savoy cake at the bottom of a trifle dish.

  2. Add a layer of macaroons and a layer of ratifia.

  3. Pour 1 pint of Lisbon wine over the cakes, allowing it to soak in.

Make the custard

  1. Combine milk and cream with cinnamon, lemon peel, and sugar.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Let cool.

  5. Beat egg yolks and flour in a bowl.

  6. Gradually add the cooled milk mixture while stirring.

  7. Strain the mixture into a saucepan.

  8. Cook over medium heat, stirring until it boils.

  9. Remove from heat.

  10. Let cool.

  11. When half cold, stir in brandy and ratifia.

Assemble and top

  1. Pour the custard over the soaked cakes.

  2. Top with apricot jam.

  3. Whip 1 pint of cream with egg white until soft peaks form.

  4. Spread over the trifle.

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. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

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

  2. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

What each ingredient does

Savoy cake
Forms the absorbent base layer that soaks up the wine.
Lisbon wine
Soaks into the cake, adding moisture and sweetness to the base.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set when gently heated.
Milk and cream
Form the rich liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and fat.
Flour
Helps stabilise the custard so it thickens smoothly.
Heavy cream
Whipped with egg white to form a light, airy topping.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until it boils. Egg yolks can curdle or turn grainy if overheated, so stirring constantly while bringing the custard to a boil keeps it smooth. Flour helps stabilise it during thickening.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, milk, cream, cinnamon, sugar, egg, flour):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, milk, cream, cinnamon, sugar, egg, flour. 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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