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Sauce

Cream Sauce

A simple sauce made from butter, powdered sugar, cream, and boiling water, flavored with optional flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Cream Sauce

Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Beat the butter and powdered sugar together until well combined.

  2. Add the cream and mix until smooth.

  3. Stir in the boiling water gradually.

  4. Place the mixture on the stove and stir constantly for a few moments.

  5. Remove from heat and add your choice of flavoring.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Powdered white sugar
Provides sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the butter for a fine, pourable texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
Rich cream
Adds fat and body, making the sauce silky and thick.
Boiling water
Loosens the mixture and helps the sugar dissolve into a smooth, fluid sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring in the boiling water gradually. Adding the hot water slowly lets the sugar dissolve and blend into the butter and cream without separating or becoming grainy, which keeps the sauce smooth.

“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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