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Dessert

Fig Caramel Icing

A caramel icing made from brown sugar, butter, cream, and a pinch of salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fig Caramel Icing

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine brown sugar, butter, cream, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before using.

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.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and caramel flavor as it cooks down into the icing.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture and mouthfeel in the icing.
Cream
Supplies moisture and fat so the sugar dissolves and the icing turns smooth.

The step that matters

Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly. Sugar and cream can scorch on the bottom of the pan if left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps heat even and prevents crystallization, so the mixture thickens smoothly rather than turning grainy or burnt.

“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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