Why it works: Wine and apricot work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 247 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓
Byron Soufflé
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the layers
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Layer frangipan mixture on the bottom of a souffle dish.
Add a layer of sponge cake soaked in wine.
Spread apricot jam over the sponge cake.
Repeat layering until the dish is full.
Bake and finish
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cover the top with meringue.
Dust with sugar and dry in a warm place before serving.
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.
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Wine + apricottop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together247 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Frangipan mixture
- Provides a rich, moist almond layer that sets as it bakes.
- Sponge cake
- Absorbs the wine and adds a soft, moist layer between the fillings.
- Apricot jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and moisture to the layers.
- Meringue
- Forms a light, crisp topping that browns and sweetens the surface.
The step that matters
Dust with sugar and dry in a warm place before serving. Meringue is mostly egg white and sugar; drying it slowly in warm air keeps it crisp and stable rather than weeping or softening. Rushing this step or skipping the drying time leaves the topping damp and sticky.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Grapefits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, sugar. 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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