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Dessert

Swiss Cream, or Trifle

A layered dessert of lemon-flavored cream, macaroons, and candied citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Swiss Cream, or Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream

  1. Flavour the cream with lemon rind and cinnamon.

  2. Mix 4 teaspoons of flour smoothly with a portion of the cream.

  3. Heat the remaining cream in a clean saucepan until it boils.

  4. Stir in the flour mixture and simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  5. Pour the mixture out and let it cool completely.

  6. Gradually mix in the strained juice of the lemons.

Assemble and serve

  1. Cover the bottom of a glass dish with macaroons.

  2. Pour in part of the cream mixture, then layer the remaining macaroons on top.

  3. Add the rest of the cream and decorate with sliced candied citron.

  4. Prepare this dish the day before serving.

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

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

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Cream
Forms the rich, smooth body of the custard once thickened by the flour.
Fine flour
Thickens the cream as it simmers, giving the custard its set and body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the lemon juice.
Lemons
Contribute acidity and bright lemon flavour through the rind and juice.
Macaroons
Soak up the cream mixture, softening and adding almond-sweet texture between layers.

The step that matters

Simmer the flour mixture and stir constantly. Flour thickens only when heated and stirred, so the cream must be stirred constantly while simmering to prevent lumps and scorching on the base of the pan.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, flour, 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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