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Dessert

An Excellent Trifle

A layered dessert of soaked sponge biscuits, macaroons, ratafias, custard, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Brandy and spirit work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells sweet. The science ↓

An Excellent Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cakes

  1. Soak the sponge biscuits, macaroons, and ratafias in the wine, brandy, sherry, and spirit mixture.

Layer the trifle

  1. Cover the bottom of a trifle dish with part of the soaked cakes.

  2. Pour 1 pint of rich boiled custard over the cakes.

  3. Layer the remaining soaked cakes on top of the custard.

Top and finish

  1. Prepare whipped syllabub.

  2. Pile the whipped syllabub over the trifle to a depth of 2 to 3 inches.

  3. Sweeten and flavor the thin cream with wine.

  4. Whip the thin cream to a light froth.

  5. Gently heap the whipped cream over the trifle.

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. Brandy + spirittop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).

  2. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Wine + spirittop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together701 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  4. Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Sponge biscuits
Soak up the wine and spirits, forming the soft base layer of the trifle.
Macaroons
Soak up the wine and spirits, adding a chewy, almond-flavored texture to the layers.
Rich boiled custard
Adds moisture and richness that softens the soaked cakes and binds the layers together.
Thin cream
Whipped to a light froth, it forms the airy, lightly sweetened topping.
Sherry or madeira
Adds aroma and a fortified wine flavor that soaks into the cakes.

The step that matters

Whipping the thin cream to a light froth. Overwhipping cream past soft peaks turns it grainy and stiff, so it will not spread gently over the trifle. Stop at a light froth so the topping stays airy and 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.

More trifle recipes

Apple 48Gooseberry 43Lemon 18Swiss Cream 17Brandy 13Grape 12 See all 115 →

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