Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg whites lightly; do not let them become white.
Stir in the grated chocolate.
Gradually add the powdered sugar while beating to mix well.
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 + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + chocolatetop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Provide the structure and body that hold the frosting together.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and thickens the frosting as it is beaten in.
- Grated chocolate
- Adds chocolate flavour and richness to the frosting.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites lightly. Over-beating egg whites makes them stiff and whitened, which changes the texture and makes the frosting harder to mix smoothly with the chocolate and sugar. Beating only lightly keeps them fluid enough to blend.
“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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