Why it works: Lemon and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,174 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Icing for Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
Gradually sprinkle in the powdered sugar while continuing to beat. If possible, add more sugar until the desired consistency is reached.
Flavor with lemon juice, orange juice, or rose water, and add the grated rind if using citrus.
Ice the cake
Drop spoonfuls of icing onto the center of the cake and spread with a knife dipped in cold water. Allow the icing to spread naturally if the cake shape permits.
Ice the cake before it cools completely, but not while it is still hot.
Let the icing dry in a warm, airy place.
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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Lemon + rosetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks, they form the airy foam that gives the icing its structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Stiffens the whipped whites and sweetens the icing as it is beaten in.
- Lemon or orange juice
- Adds acidity and bright citrus flavor that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Ice the cake while it is only slightly warm. Icing applied to a fully hot cake can melt and slide off, while icing on a fully cooled cake may not bond well. Waiting until the cake is barely warm lets the icing set on the surface.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, rose):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
- Raspberryfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, rose. 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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