Name: An Excellent Trifle
Ingredients: ½ cup wine; ⅓ cup brandy; ⅔ cup Sherry or Madeira; ½ cup spirit; 4 sponge biscuits; ½ pound macaroons; ½ pound ratifias; 1 pint rich boiled custard (made with ¾ pint milk and cream in equal portions, 6 eggs); ½ pint thin cream (or cream and milk mixed); 2 teaspoons sugar

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 ↓

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.

Brandy + spirittop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (sweet).
Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,209 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Wine + spirittop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,427 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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 spirit mixture, forming the soft base layers of the trifle.
Macaroons: Absorb the soaking liquid and add a chewy, almond-flavored texture to the layers.
Ratifias: Soak up the liquor and add a crisp-soft texture and bitter almond aroma between layers.
Rich boiled custard: Forms the creamy middle layer, adding richness and moisture to the soaked cakes.
Thin cream: Whipped into a light froth to make the topping, adding lightness and richness.

The step that matters

Whipping the thin cream to a light froth. Cream over-whipped past a light froth can turn grainy and separate, while under-whipped cream stays too thin to hold its shape on top of the trifle.

“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.

An Excellent Trifle