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Dessert

Trifle

A layered dessert of sponge biscuits, macaroons, ratafias, custard, apricot jam, sherry, brandy, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Trifle

Why it works: Biscuit and arrowroot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble the base

  1. Cover a good-sized glass dish with sponge biscuits.

  2. Place a layer of macaroons and ratafias mixed on top.

  3. Pour over the sherry and brandy mixture and let it soak for 1 hour.

Layer and finish

  1. Pour some custard over the soaked biscuits.

  2. Spread a layer of apricot jam on the custard.

  3. Add another layer of sponge cakes soaked in sherry and brandy.

  4. Top with another dressing of custard and another layer of apricot jam.

  5. Finish with a whip of good cream.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + arrowroottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Brandy + apricottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Sherry + apricottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together173 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Milk + apricottop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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 sherry and brandy, forming the soft structure of the trifle.
Custard
Adds moisture and a creamy, rich texture that settles into the soaked layers.
Sherry
Soaks into the biscuits, adding moisture and a distinct aroma.
Brandy
Soaks into the biscuits, adding moisture and a warming aroma.
Whipped cream
Adds a light, fat-rich topping that contrasts with the soaked layers.

The step that matters

Soaking the biscuits. The sponge needs time to absorb the sherry and brandy evenly. Too little soaking leaves dry pockets, while over-soaking can make the layers collapse and turn mushy.

Swap the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, sherry, brandy, sugar, milk, egg, apricot):

  1. Arrowrootthe original
  2. Sweet potatofits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Beetrootfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, sherry, brandy, sugar, milk, egg, apricot. 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 →

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