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Dessert

Caramel Icing

A sweet icing made from sugar, sweet milk, butter, and vanilla, boiled and thickened for use on cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Caramel Icing

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Caramel Icing

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the icing

  1. Combine sugar, sweet milk, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Boil the mixture for five minutes over medium heat.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

Beat and spread

  1. Beat the mixture until it begins to thicken.

  2. Spread the icing quickly on a cold cake.

  3. If the icing thickens too quickly, moisten it with a little milk.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

White sugar
Sweetens the icing and, once boiled, sets firm as it cools.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and dissolves the sugar into a smooth, creamy icing.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer, softer texture.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma that complements the caramel flavour.

The step that matters

Spread the icing while it is still soft. As boiled sugar cools, it recrystallises and thickens quickly. Spreading the icing promptly on the cake keeps it workable before it sets.

“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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