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Dessert

Marshmallow Frosting

A sweet frosting made with sugar, marshmallows, water, vinegar, and egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the white sugar, brown sugar, water, and vinegar until the syrup forms threads.

Finish the frosting

  1. Slowly beat the syrup into the beaten egg white.

  2. Melt the marshmallows in a basin over hot water, then add to the mixture.

  3. Beat until thick.

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

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

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

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

  3. Vinegar + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Vinegar and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 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

White sugar
Provides sweetness and, when boiled, builds the syrup that sets the frosting.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a slightly caramel flavour to the frosting.
Marshmallows
Add body, softness and extra sweetness to the frosting.
Egg white
Whipped to form a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
Vinegar
Adds a little acidity that helps stabilise the sugar syrup and keep it smooth.

The step that matters

Slowly beat the syrup into the beaten egg white. Pouring the hot syrup in slowly lets it cook the egg white gradually and keeps the foam stable. Adding it too fast can deflate the foam and leave the frosting runny.

“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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