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Dessert

Never Fail Frosting

A simple frosting made by beating egg whites, sugar, and water over a double boiler until it thickens.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and egg 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 ↓

Never Fail Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Beat the whites of two eggs, one cup sugar, and one dessert spoon of water.

  2. Stir together and put in a double boiler.

  3. Heat water to a boil.

  4. Beat with an egg beater slowly but constantly until frosting hangs from the beater without dropping.

Finish and spread

  1. Remove from boiler, flavor, and spread on cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

127Calories
6 gProtein
5 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Whip into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
Sugar
Dissolves into the egg whites to sweeten and help stabilize the frosting.
Water
Thins the mixture so the sugar dissolves and it can cook gently over the double boiler.

The step that matters

Beat slowly but constantly over the double boiler. Gentle, continuous beating while the mixture is warm lets the egg proteins set into a stable, glossy foam. Stopping or beating too fast can leave it grainy or deflated.

“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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