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Dessert

Daisy Cream Candy

A candy made from sugar, cream, boiling water, vinegar, and cinnamon, cooked into a hard ball and cut into pieces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Daisy Cream Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy base

  1. Add 3 pints sugar.

  2. Add 8 teaspoons cream or rich, and milk.

  3. Add 1 pint boiling water.

  4. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar and a pinch of salt.

  5. Cook until it forms a hard ball in cold water.

Shape and finish

  1. Turn out on greased marble and flavor with vanilla or cinnamon.

  2. Pull until it begins to look creamy, then cut in pieces with scissors.

  3. Make cream icing.

  4. When taken from the fire, add cocoanut and drop on wax paper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

109Calories
0 gProtein
5 gFat
15 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
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 Mary Elizabeth Lyles Wilson (1860–1924). 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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + cinnamontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Cream + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,064 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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 candy and, once cooked, sets into its firm structure.
Cream
Adds fat and richness, giving a softer, creamier texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that softens the sugar texture and helps prevent graininess.
Cinnamon
Adds a warm aroma as a flavoring.

The step that matters

Cook until it forms a hard ball in cold water. The sugar must reach the right concentration. Undercooked candy stays soft and sticky, while overcooked candy turns hard and brittle. Test in cold water and watch the pot closely.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, vinegar):

  1. Cinnamonthe original
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Peppermintfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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