Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Velvet Molasses Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the syrup
Put the first four ingredients (molasses, sugar, boiling water, vinegar) in a kettle placed over the front of the range.
As soon as the boiling point is reached, add the cream of tartar.
Boil until, when tried in cold water, the mixture becomes brittle.
Stir constantly during the last part of cooking.
When nearly done, add the butter and soda.
Pull and flavour
Pour the mixture into a buttered pan and pull as in Molasses Candy.
While pulling, add one teaspoon vanilla, one-half teaspoon lemon extract, a few drops oil of peppermint, or a few drops oil of wintergreen.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Molasses | 1 tbsp (20g) | 58 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Provides the dark colour, deep flavour and chewy body of the candy.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as it cooks to a syrup, the hard brittle set.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps keep the sugar from crystallising too early.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent sugar crystallisation, keeping the candy smooth.
- Butter
- Adds fat that softens the texture and gives a richer mouthfeel.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acids in the syrup to lighten the candy and make it airy.
The step that matters
Boil until brittle in cold water. Sugar syrup sets hard as its temperature rises. Stopping too early leaves the candy sticky, while going too far makes it bitter and hard to pull. The cold-water test checks the stage by sight and feel.
“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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