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Cinnamon Cocoa Buttercream Frosting

Great on cupcakes, doughnuts or any dessert.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 30,777 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 6
Prep8 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Place the softened butter in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.

  2. Sift or whisk the confectioners sugar and cocoa powder together in a separate bowl to remove lumps.

  3. Add the sugar and cocoa mixture to the butter a little at a time, beating on low speed until combined.

  4. Add the ground cinnamon and heavy cream, then beat on medium-high speed for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

  5. If the frosting is too stiff, beat in a splash of cream; if too soft, chill for 10 minutes before spreading.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cinnamon + cocoa powdertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together331 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cream + cocoa powdertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together825 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together43,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs