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 Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a kettle, combine 15 pounds of sugar with enough water to dissolve it.
Cover the kettle and bring to a boil.
Remove the cover, add 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and cook until the temperature reaches 228°F (108°C).
Add 1 pound of glucose and continue cooking until the temperature reaches 238°F (114°C) or 240°F (116°C).
Cool and work the fondant
Pour the mixture onto a dampened slab and let it cool.
Once cool, use a wooden paddle to work the mixture back and forth until it forms a lump.
Cover the lump with a damp cloth and let it rest for one hour.
Store the fondant in a crock or bucket, keeping it covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
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 bulk of the fondant and, as it cools and is worked, crystallizes into a smooth, creamy texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, keeping the fondant smooth.
- Glucose
- Interferes with sugar crystallization, helping the fondant stay soft and smooth rather than grainy.
The step that matters
Working the mixture after cooling. Sugar syrup must be cooled undisturbed on a damp slab before it is worked. Stirring or handling it while hot can trigger large crystals, leaving the fondant grainy instead of smooth.
“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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