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Dessert

Molkit Trifle

A layered trifle made with sponge buns, milk, whipped cream, chocolate, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Molkit Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sponge

  1. Split the sponge buns.

  2. Quickly dip the split buns into milk.

  3. Spread each bun with a little whipped cream.

  4. Put the buns back together.

  5. Place the assembled buns in a glass dish.

Make the chocolate sauce

  1. In a pan, combine ⅓ of the milk, butter, sugar, chocolate, and gelatine.

  2. Stir over heat until the chocolate is dissolved.

  3. Mix the flour smoothly with the remaining milk.

  4. Stir until the mixture boils and thickens.

  5. Once thickened, pour the mixture over the sponge cakes.

Finish and serve

  1. Let the trifle cool completely.

  2. Decorate with 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

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

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Sponge buns
Form the soft base layer that soaks up the milk and chocolate mixture.
Chocolate
Provides the main flavour and rich colour of the sauce.
Gelatine
Sets the chocolate mixture so it holds its shape when cooled.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture as it boils.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy texture to the sauce.
Whipped cream
Adds moisture and a light, creamy texture between and on top of the buns.

The step that matters

Stir the flour mixture until it boils and thickens. Flour thickens only when the starch granules swell in hot liquid and the mixture reaches a boil. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin, while overheating or leaving it unstirred can scorch or lump it.

“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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