Name: Peach Trifle
Ingredients: sliced peaches; sugar; sponge cake crumbs; 2 egg whites; 2 tablespoons sugar for meringue; soft custard

Why it works: Peach and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,308 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Peach Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Layer the trifle

Layer sliced and sweetened peaches in a deep glass dish.
Cover with a thick layer of sponge cake crumbs.
Pour warm soft custard over the crumbs.

Top and serve

Beat 2 egg whites with 2 tablespoons of sugar to make meringue.
Top the trifle with the meringue.
Serve very cold.

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.

Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Peach + eggtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,048 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sponge cake crumbs: Form a thick base that soaks up custard and juices, giving the trifle its body.
Soft custard: Adds moisture and richness, softening the cake crumbs into a creamy layer.
Egg whites: Whipped with sugar into a meringue that adds light, airy texture to the top.
Sliced peaches: Provide fruit flavour, sweetness and moisture that soak down through the layers.