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Dessert

Tipsy Cake, or Trifle

A candied fruit and almond paste cake with egg yolk balls, sugar syrup, and brandy, baked and served hot or cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pineapple and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,664 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Tipsy Cake, or Trifle

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the mixed candied peel, candied pineapple, and angelica into fine shreds.

  2. Blanch the sweet and bitter almonds.

  3. Pound the blanched almonds to a paste.

  4. Stir the yolks of the eggs (do not beat).

  5. Strain the egg yolks.

Make the syrup

  1. Combine the loaf sugar and water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture for 10 minutes while skimming constantly.

  3. Add the orange-flower water and boil for 5 more minutes.

  4. Pour off ¼ of the syrup into a basin to cool.

Make the egg balls and almond paste

  1. Drop the strained yolks into the boiling syrup to form small balls.

  2. Drain the yolk balls on a sieve.

  3. Stir the almond paste into the remaining syrup and simmer until it forms a soft paste.

  4. Add the brandy and rub through a sieve.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a pie dish.

  2. Layer the almond paste, candied fruit, and egg balls in the dish.

  3. Beat the egg whites, add them to the clarified sugar, and beat to a froth.

  4. Pour the froth over the layers.

  5. Bake in a quick oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 18 minutes.

  6. Serve hot or cold, but better cold.

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. Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Angelica + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Angelica + orangetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together159 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Pineapple + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together298 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks form the set balls and whites whip into a light froth that lifts the cake.
Sweet almonds
Ground into a paste that gives the cake body, richness and a nutty flavor.
Loaf sugar
Makes the syrup that sweetens the cake and helps the yolks and paste hold their shape.
Candied pineapple
Adds chewy texture and concentrated sweetness among the layers.
Brandy
Adds a warm alcoholic aroma to the almond paste.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral aroma to the syrup.

The step that matters

Drop the yolks into the boiling syrup. Yolk proteins set almost instantly in very hot syrup, so the balls hold their shape. If the syrup is not at a full boil, or the yolks are not strained first, they can spread, cloud the syrup, or form stringy lumps.

Swap the angelica

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, almond, egg, sugar, orange, brandy):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits about as well
  4. Angelicathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, almond, egg, sugar, orange, brandy. 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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