Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Iceing for Cakes of All Kinds
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
In a bowl, combine the egg white, powdered sugar, and melted gum dragon.
Mix until it forms a smooth paste.
Finish
Spread the icing over the cake.
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.
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg white
- Adds body and helps the icing set into a smooth coating as it dries.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the icing and, when finely powdered, thickens it into a smooth paste.
- Gum dragon
- Thickens and binds the icing so it holds a smooth, spreadable consistency.
The step that matters
Mix until a smooth paste forms. The gum must be fully dispersed through the egg white and sugar. Unmixed gum or sugar leaves lumps and uneven thickness, so the icing spreads unevenly on the cake.
“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.
More cake icing recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.