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 ↓
White Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Combine the sugar and cream of tartar in a bowl.
Add the rose extract and egg whites.
Beat with a wooden spoon for several minutes until the mixture maintains a thread-like appearance as it runs from the spoon.
Use as directed.
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).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Rose + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,840 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Extra fine sugar
- Sweetens the icing and dissolves into the foam to give it body and a smooth texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, helping the foam stay stable and resist collapsing.
- Egg whites
- Trap air when beaten, forming the foam that gives the icing its light, set structure.
- Rose extract
- Adds the rose aroma and flavor that defines this icing.
The step that matters
Beating until thread-like. Egg white proteins unfold and trap air as you beat, and the sugar stiffens the foam. Stop too early and the icing runs off the spoon; beat too long and the foam dries and turns brittle.
“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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