Why it works: Egg and sugar 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
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Stir in the sugar and water.
Place the mixture in a double boiler over boiling water.
Beat slowly but constantly with an egg beater until the frosting holds its shape.
Finish and spread
Remove from the boiler, add flavoring, and spread on cake.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Whipped and heated, they form a foam that sets into a smooth, stable frosting.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the whites, adding sweetness and helping the frosting hold its shape.
- Water
- Thins the sugar so it dissolves evenly into the egg whites.
The step that matters
Beating over the double boiler until it holds its shape. Heat cooks the egg white proteins so they set into a glossy structure, while constant beating traps air. Stopping too early leaves a runny frosting; overcooking can make it grainy or dry.
“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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