Skip to main content
Dessert

A Grand Trifle

A layered dessert of biscuits, fruit, nuts, and custard flavored with sherry and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Biscuit and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 388 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

A Grand Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Build the layers

  1. Layer fine sponge or Savoy biscuits at the bottom of a large glass dish.

  2. Add a layer of ratafias, then a layer of macaroons.

  3. Between each layer, sprinkle blanched almonds, candied citron, orange peel, and pineapple chips.

  4. Add a little mace and nutmeg on top of the last layer.

  5. Pour sherry or wine over the layers, allowing them to soak.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, boil equal parts milk and cream with lemon peel, cinnamon, bay leaves, and sugar for 20 minutes.

  2. While cooling, beat the yolks of the eggs until well mixed.

  3. Combine the egg yolks with the cooled milk and cream mixture.

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. Biscuit + almondtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together388 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Biscuit + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together368 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set gently with heat, giving it a rich, smooth body.
Milk and cream
Form the liquid custard base, adding richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the spices and richness of the custard.
Fine sponge or savoy biscuits
Form the absorbent base layer that soaks up the sherry or wine.
Sherry or fine old mountain wine
Soaks into the biscuit layers, adding moisture and a distinctive aroma.

The step that matters

Combining the egg yolks with the milk and cream. The milk and cream must be cooled before the yolks go in. Hot liquid added too quickly can scramble the yolks, leaving bits of cooked egg instead of a smooth custard.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, almond, orange, pineapple, nutmeg, sherry, milk):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, almond, orange, pineapple, nutmeg, sherry, milk. 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 →

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes