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 ↓
Cream, Ok Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar (or glucose) in a pot.
Heat the mixture, stirring until dissolved.
Cook until it reaches a soft ball stage.
Work the fondant
Pour the mixture onto a marble slab that has been lightly sprinkled with water.
Allow it to cool until nearly cold.
Turn in the edges and use a long‑handled wooden spatula to work it back and forth until it granulates into a smooth, white mass.
Knead it thoroughly with your hands.
Place it in a crock and cover with a damp cloth.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the sweet, crystalline base that sets into the fondant's body.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, keeping the fondant smooth.
- Glucose
- An optional substitute for cream of tartar that similarly limits crystal growth for a smooth texture.
The step that matters
Working the mass until it granulates. Cooling undisturbed and then agitating the syrup starts many tiny sugar crystals forming at once, which gives the smooth, white texture. Working it too early, while hot, yields large grainy crystals.
“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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