Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Cream Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and cream of tartar.
Boil the mixture without stirring for about one minute.
Do not let any sugar on the sides fall into the syrup while boiling.
Prepare a bowl of ice water for testing the syrup.
Test and cool
Dip your index finger in the ice water, then in the syrup, and back to the water until the syrup feels creamy.
Once creamy, pour the syrup onto a greased slab of cold marble.
Do not stir or let any drippings fall into the syrup.
As it cools, it will form a skin; when it is warm, work it with a wooden paddle until it turns white.
Work the fondant
When too stiff for the paddle, knead it with your hands into a creamy mass.
Add a little vanilla for flavor if desired.
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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Olive + vanillatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,499 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + olivetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,206 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the crystal structure that gives fondant its smooth, creamy body.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the syrup, helping prevent unwanted sugar crystallization for a smooth texture.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup.
The step that matters
Do not stir the syrup while it boils or cools. Stirring or stray crystals falling into the syrup can trigger large sugar crystals to form, making the fondant grainy instead of smooth and creamy.
“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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