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Dessert

Swiss Cream, or Trifle

A layered dessert of lemon‑infused cream, macaroons, and candied citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Swiss Cream, or Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream

  1. Infuse the cream with the lemon rind and cinnamon.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Mix 4 teaspoons of flour with a small amount of the cream to form a thin batter.

  4. Heat the remaining cream in a saucepan until boiling.

  5. Stir in the flour mixture.

  6. Simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  7. Once cooled, gradually mix in the strained juice of the two lemons.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a glass dish, layer some macaroons.

  2. Pour in part of the cream.

  3. Add more macaroons.

  4. Top with the remaining cream.

  5. Garnish with thinly sliced candied citron.

  6. Prepare this dish a day in advance for best flavor.

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. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Rich cream
Forms the body of the custard and gives a smooth, rich texture when thickened.
Flour
Thickens the cream as it simmers, giving the custard its set and body.
Macaroons
Soak up the cream as it sits, softening into a tender, layered texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet, rich cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the acidity of the lemon juice.

The step that matters

Simmering the flour-thickened cream. Flour must be fully cooked by simmering while stirring constantly; otherwise it can clump and leave a raw, pasty taste and uneven thickness. Stirring also prevents scorching on the base of the pan.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, cinnamon, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, cinnamon, flour. 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.

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