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Dessert

To Make a Trifle

A layered dessert of sponge cakes, macaroons, ratafias, custard, whipped cream, and garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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To Make a Trifle

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 ↓

To Make a Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the whip

  1. Prepare the whip a day in advance for better flavor.

  2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, egg whites, cream, and sherry.

  3. Whisk well in a cool place.

  4. Remove the froth with a skimmer as it rises and drain it on a sieve.

  5. Continue whisking until you have enough whip, then refrigerate to drain.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a trifle dish, layer sponge cakes, macaroons, and ratafias.

  2. Soak them with a mixture of sherry and brandy.

  3. Add grated lemon rind, almond strips, and a layer of jam over the cakes.

  4. Pour custard over the cakes.

  5. Heap the whip on top as high as possible.

  6. Garnish with strips of currant jelly, crystallized sweetmeats, or edible flowers.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Almond + raspberrytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together552 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Lemon + raspberrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,109 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

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

  5. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whisked into a stable foam that gives the whip its light, airy structure.
Cream
Whips into a rich, thick topping that adds body and fat to the dessert.
Sponge cakes
Soak up the sherry and brandy, forming the moist base layer of the trifle.
Sherry
Moistens and flavors the cakes and macaroons while adding aroma to the whip.
Macaroons
Absorb the soaking liquid, adding texture and almond flavor to the layers.
Pounded loaf sugar
Sweetens the whip and helps stabilize the foam as it drains.

The step that matters

Whisk the whip in a cool place and drain the froth. Cream and egg whites foam best when cool; warmth thins the mixture and makes it collapse. Removing the froth as it rises and draining it lets the whip firm up into a stable topping.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream, sherry, brandy, almond, raspberry):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cream, sherry, brandy, almond, raspberry. 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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