Advocaat substitutes

A cream liqueur with a similar sweetness and a similar creamy weight, and the only ready-made bottle most shops carry that sits in the same part of the drinks cabinet.

Best for

Snowball style drinks, coffee, pouring over ice cream, trifle, chocolate desserts

Be honest with yourself about the change: Irish cream is noticeably thinner, browner and tastes of cocoa, vanilla and whiskey where advocaat tastes of egg yolk and brandy. A Snowball made with it comes out beige rather than pale yellow and reads as a coffee-chocolate drink. It also will not foam the same way, because the egg protein in advocaat is what creates that thick head.

Ready-made vanilla custard, or custard made from custard powder and left to cool thick, stirred with brandy. This is exactly what advocaat is: sweet egg custard plus spirit.

Best for

desserts, trifles, sauces, Snowball style drinks, spooning over fruit

The best all-round substitute and the one most people already have the parts for. It is a shade paler and less glossy than the bottle, and it will not keep, so make only what you need and use it the same day. Leave the brandy out and you have a decent alcohol-free version.

Whisk 2 egg yolks with ¼ cup sugar over a pan of barely simmering water until thick and pale, take it off the heat, then whisk in ¼ cup brandy and a splash of cream. This is a genuine advocaat, made to order.

Best for

desserts, Snowballs, sauces, when you want the real texture

Cook the yolks gently to at least 71C or 160F, or use pasteurised eggs, because this mixture is not heated again afterwards. Keep the heat low and keep whisking or the yolks scramble. Chill it and use it within two days, and keep it refrigerated because it contains egg.

Eggnog shares advocaat's egg-and-sugar base and its pale colour, so the flavour direction is right from the start.

Best for

seasonal drinks, desserts, coffee, trifle, baking

Eggnog is much thinner and is spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, which advocaat is not, so the result tastes distinctly Christmassy. Adding brandy fixes the strength but not the thickness. If the recipe depends on advocaat coating the back of a spoon, thicken the eggnog by warming it gently with a teaspoon of custard powder first.

Keeps the sweetness, the vanilla note and roughly the right pale gold colour, with none of the body.

Best for

cocktails where cream is also added, coffee drinks

This only works if something else in the drink supplies the richness, because on its own it is a thin, clear liqueur next to a thick one. Add a tablespoon of single cream per ounce and it becomes usable.

Thick cold vanilla custard on its own, with a drop of vanilla extract and a pinch of sugar if it needs help.

Best for

alcohol-free desserts, trifle, cooking for a mixed table, pouring sauces

Texture and colour are right, which is more than half the battle with advocaat. What is missing is the brandy warmth at the back of the throat, and there is no honest way to fake that. For a drink, top it with lemonade and lime the way a Snowball is built and it is a genuinely nice alcohol-free version.