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Dessert

Marshmallow Frosting

A sweet frosting made from sugar, water, gelatin, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and gelatin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

  2. Dissolve gelatin in 1 tablespoon of water and set aside.

Finish the frosting

  1. Once the sugar mixture is boiling, stir in the dissolved gelatin.

  2. Gently fold in the egg whites until well combined.

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.

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. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
Cooked with water into a syrup, it provides sweetness and the body of the frosting.
Egg whites
Folded in gently, they add airy structure and a light, fluffy texture.
Gelatin
Sets and firms the frosting so it holds its shape and stays stable.
Cream of tartar
Helps stabilise egg white foams, keeping the frosting from weeping or collapsing.

The step that matters

Stir the dissolved gelatin into the boiling syrup. Gelatin must be fully dissolved and evenly distributed while the syrup is hot. If it is added too cold or left to stand, it can set in lumps, leaving a grainy or uneven frosting.

“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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