Spongy dessert knight tucks into after a drop of brandy (9)
I believe the answer is:
absorbent
'spongy' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'into after a drop of brandy' is the wordplay.
'into' becomes 'sorbent' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'drop of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'brandy' is 'b'.
'a'+'b'='ab'
'sorbent' put after 'ab' is 'ABSORBENT'.
'dessert knight tucks' is the link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for absorbent that I've seen before include "Able to mop up" , "able to soak in the sun?" , "Such material is able to take in water" , "soaking it all up?" , "drinking" .)