Why it works: Sugar and egg 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 ↓
Soft Maple Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine sugar and boiling water.
Cover the saucepan after the sugar begins to dissolve to allow steam to dissolve any sugar crystals on the sides.
Continue cooking until the mixture thickens.
Finish and spread
Set the bowl with frosting in a pan of hot water, beating occasionally until it thickens and starts to harden against the sides.
Remove from heat, beat until cool, and spread on cake as desired.
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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Sugar + eggtop 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
- Fine granulated sugar
- Forms the bulk of the frosting and, as it cooks and cools, sets into a smooth, creamy texture.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lightness, helping the frosting hold its airy body as it is beaten.
- Boiling water
- Dissolves the sugar to create the syrup that the frosting is built from.
The step that matters
Covering the saucepan while the sugar dissolves. Steam from the covered pan dissolves sugar crystals clinging to the sides, which could otherwise fall back in and make the frosting grainy.
“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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