Skip to main content
Dessert

Lord Mayor's Trifle

A layered dessert of macaroons, fruit, custard, jelly, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Lord Mayor's Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble the base

  1. In a glass dish, arrange a layer of macaroons.

  2. Pour the juice from the canned or fresh stewed fruit over the macaroons until soaked.

  3. Spread a layer of the fruit over the soaked macaroons.

Make the custard

  1. In a double boiler, cook milk, egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened to make custard.

  2. Fold in the beaten egg whites until combined.

Finish the trifle

  1. Spread a layer of jelly over the custard.

  2. Top with a pint of 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.

  1. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Macaroons
Soak up the fruit juice, softening and adding a tender texture to the base.
Eggs
Set and thicken the custard, giving it structure and richness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding creaminess.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard as it heats, giving it a smooth, spoonable body.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the fruit.
Whipped cream
Adds a light, rich topping layer over the custard.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a simmer, so it must be cooked long enough to lose its raw taste. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, so gentle heat in a double boiler and steady stirring keep the custard smooth.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes