Name: Satin Finish on Buttercup and Bonbon
Ingredients: sugar; water; corn syrup; fondant

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Satin Finish on Buttercup and Bonbon

Ingredients

sugar
water
corn syrup
fondant

Directions

Boil sugar, water, and corn syrup until it reaches the hard crack stage.
Remove from heat and pull the candy on a hook until it becomes glossy and satiny.
For bonbons, cook fondant to the soft ball stage and let it cool.
Manipulate the cooled fondant on a marble surface for a glossy finish.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,678 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,168 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).