Why it works: Raspberry and sherry work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 109 recipes. Both carry damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Tipsy Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
Split the sponge cakes and spread a good layer of raspberry jam on each half.
Replace the halves and arrange them compactly in a dish to resemble one large cake.
Soak and finish
Pour the sherry over the cakes and let them soak for 1 hour.
Prepare the custard as directed and, when cool, pour it over the soaked cakes.
Garnish with cherries, angelica, chopped pistachios, or baked almonds if desired.
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.
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Raspberry + sherrytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together109 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sponge cakes
- Form the soft, absorbent base that holds the jam, sherry and custard.
- Raspberry jam
- Adds sweetness and fruity flavour, and moistens the sponge layers between halves.
- Boiled custard
- Adds moisture and a creamy, rich layer that softens the cake further.
- Sherry
- Soaks into the sponge to add moisture and a warm, aromatic flavour.
The step that matters
Letting the cakes soak. The sherry needs time to be absorbed evenly into the sponge; pouring too quickly leaves dry pockets and wet pools. The full hour lets the cake soften throughout before the cooled custard is added.
“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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