Sweet sherry substitutes

Oloroso-based sherry sweetened with concentrated grape must, sold as Harveys Bristol Cream and similar bottlings.

Best for

trifle, Christmas puddings and cakes, chicken liver and mushroom dishes, gravies

Not really a substitute so much as the same thing under a different name, which is why it is the first answer. It has the raisin, walnut and toffee character that a British recipe expects from sweet sherry, it is sweetened to roughly the level those recipes assume, and it is on nearly every supermarket shelf. Use it spoon for spoon with no adjustment whatever. Its other advantage is longevity: because it is fortified and oxidative it stays good for a month or two in the fridge once opened, which is why a bottle of it can live in a cupboard and still work for next Christmas.

Fortified wines aged in contact with air, all tasting of dried fruit, caramel and nuts.

Best for

trifle, tiramisu, soaking sponge and dried fruit, pan sauces

All three sit in almost exactly the same flavour family as sweet sherry, because they are made the same way: fortified, then aged with air contact until the fresh fruit turns to fig, raisin and walnut. A trifle made with Madeira tastes slightly sharper and more caramelised; one made with tawny port is a shade richer and more figgy; sweet Marsala is the Italian equivalent and is what a tiramisu uses, tasting a touch more bitter-almond. Any of them can be swapped in without adjusting quantities. Check the Marsala bottle, since dry secco Marsala is more common in shops and needs a teaspoon of sugar per quarter cup.

The sweetest sherry style, made from sun-dried grapes into something close to a raisin syrup.

Best for

over ice cream, trifle, soaking dried fruit, chocolate desserts

Superb but very concentrated, and using it measure for measure will make a dessert sickly. It is dark, thick and almost molasses-like, tasting of raisin, date, fig and coffee, with far more sugar than a cream sherry. Two thirds of the volume topped up with water or orange juice puts it roughly in the right place. Used correctly it is arguably better than the original in a trifle or over ice cream, where the depth of dried fruit is a real asset. Also cut back on any other sugar in the recipe and taste, because the sweetness is easy to underestimate before it is diluted.

Ordinary dry sherry sweetened up, using amontillado or oloroso rather than fino if you have the choice.

Best for

trifle, gravies, mushroom sauces, using what is already open

The most likely pantry fix, since dry sherry is far more common in kitchens, and it works with one caveat about which dry sherry. Amontillado and oloroso are aged with air contact, so under a spoonful of sugar they taste convincingly like sweet sherry: nutty, raisiny and warm. Fino and manzanilla are aged under a film of yeast and stay pale, bone dry, briny and slightly yeasty, and sugar does not cover that; in a trifle the result tastes oddly savoury and salty-sharp. Stir the sugar in until it dissolves before adding the sherry to the dish, and taste it cold, since sweetness reads differently warm.

The alcohol-free build, aimed at sweet sherry's raisin note rather than at grapes generally.

Best for

alcohol-free trifle, soaking sponge, cooking for children, puddings

The best non-alcoholic approximation, because it goes after the flavour that actually defines sweet sherry: dried grape. Steeping the raisins and blending them gives you sweetness, body and that unmistakable raisin aroma, the vanilla adds warmth and the lemon supplies the acid that keeps it from tasting like syrup. Strain it well through a fine sieve or it will be gritty. Where it falls short is complexity and lift, because there is no alcohol to carry aroma, so a trifle made this way tastes pleasantly fruity but reads as a fruit trifle rather than a sherry trifle. Make it fresh, since it will not keep.

The salted, shelf-stable bottle sold in the grocery aisle rather than the drinks aisle.

Best for

knowing what to avoid, savoury dishes only, with the salt cut

Named here so you do not make the mistake, because the bottles sit close together and the labels look similar. Cooking sherry has a large quantity of salt added so it can be sold and stored outside the liquor section, and a salted trifle or a salted Christmas cake is not recoverable. In a savoury dish it can be pressed into service if you halve the quantity, top up the volume with water, cut the recipe's salt by half and never reduce it to a glaze. In anything sweet, do not use it at all. Taste any bottle straight before you cook with it, and if it tastes of brine, you have this one.