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 ↓
Caramel Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sugar base
In a separate pot, cook the granulated sugar and glucose with enough water to dissolve.
Pour the cooked mixture onto a damp slab and let it cool.
Once cooled, cream the mixture, then reheat it over steam.
Make the icing
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix well.
Combine the reheated mixture with the egg white mixture and beat until well combined.
Color the icing as desired: white, pink, chocolate, or maple.
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.
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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 whites
- Whipped into foam to give the icing its light, airy structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Stiffens the whipped whites and adds sweetness and body to the icing.
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the cooked syrup base that gives the icing its sweetness and smooth texture.
- Glucose
- Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the cooked syrup smooth and glossy.
The step that matters
Cooling and creaming the cooked sugar mixture. If the cooked sugar is not cooled properly before creaming, large sugar crystals can form, leaving the icing grainy instead of smooth. Glucose helps prevent this crystallization.
“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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