Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Soft White Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, mix sugar, cream of tartar, and baking powder.
Cover with water, adding just enough to cover the mixture.
Bring to a boil.
Combine and flavor
Add the boiling mixture by the spoonful to the egg whites, which should be broken up but not beaten.
Add flavoring to taste.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream 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
- Egg whites
- Provide the protein structure that traps the sugar syrup and sets into a soft, airy icing.
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the syrup to sweeten the icing and give it body as it cools.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the mixture, helping keep the sugar syrup smooth and the egg white foam stable.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling syrup to the egg whites. The syrup must be boiling hot and poured in slowly by the spoonful while the whites are only broken up, not beaten. Hot syrup cooks the egg white proteins gradually, producing a smooth, soft icing; pouring too fast or beating the whites first can cause lumps or a grainy texture.
“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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