Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
To Make Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a saucepan.
Do not stir after it begins to boil; let it cook until it reaches the soft ball stage (236°F - 238°F).
To test, drop a little in cold water; if it forms a soft ball, it is done.
Cool and stir
Remove from heat immediately and let it cool until it forms a crust.
Stir until it becomes thick and creamy.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the syrup and, once cooled and worked, sets into the fine crystals that give fondant its smooth body.
- Cream of tartar
- Its acidity helps keep sugar crystals small, so the fondant stays smooth rather than grainy.
The step that matters
Do not stir after the syrup begins to boil. Stirring hot sugar syrup can knock loose sugar crystals into the liquid, which then seed more crystals and make the finished fondant grainy instead of smooth.
“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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