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

Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

An Excellent Trifle

Ingredients

⅔ cup good Sherry or Madeira
⅓ cup spirit
4 sponge biscuits
½ pound macaroons
½ pound ratifias
1 pint rich boiled custard (made with ¾ pint milk and ¾ pint cream, 6 eggs)
½ pint thin cream (or cream and milk mixed)
2 teaspoons sugar
less than ½ pint wine

Directions

Soak and layer

Soak the sponge biscuits, macaroons, and ratifias in the Sherry or Madeira and spirit mixture.
Cover the bottom of a trifle dish with part of the soaked cakes.
Pour 1 pint of rich boiled custard over the cakes.
Layer the remaining soaked cakes on top of the custard.

Finish with syllabub

Prepare the whipped syllabub by whipping the thin cream until light and frothy.
Sweeten and flavor the whipped cream slightly with wine.
Gently spoon the whipped syllabub over the trifle to cover it.

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.

Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,479 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Sherry + spirittop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together35 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Biscuit + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,235 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Sherry or madeira: Soaks into the cakes, adding moisture and a sweet, aromatic wine flavor.
Sponge biscuits: Absorb the soaking liquor and give the trifle its soft, layered base.
Macaroons: Soften as they soak, adding moisture and a chewy, almond-toned texture.
Rich boiled custard: Adds richness and a smooth, creamy layer that moistens the cakes below.
Thin cream: Whipped into a light foam, giving the syllabub its airy, lifted texture.
Wine: Lightly sweetens and flavors the whipped cream, adding acidity and aroma.

The step that matters

Whipping the syllabub cream. Cream should be whipped only until light and frothy. Overwhipping thickens and grains the cream, so it no longer spoons smoothly over the trifle and loses its airy texture.

“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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An Excellent Trifle