Skip to main content
Dessert

Angel Fudge

A sweet fudge made with sugar, Karo syrup, boiling water, egg whites, nuts, vanilla, salt, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Angel Fudge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, Karo syrup, boiling water, and salt.

  2. Boil until it reaches the hard ball stage in cold water.

Combine with egg whites

  1. Slowly pour the hot mixture into the stiffly beaten egg whites while beating constantly with a wire whisk.

  2. When the mixture is nearly cool, add baking powder, nuts, and flavoring, then beat until well combined.

Shape

  1. Drop spoonfuls onto buttered or waxed paper to cool.

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 + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Whipped into a foam that gives the fudge its light, airy structure.
White sugar
Provides sweetness and, once boiled, the firm body of the candy.
Karo syrup
Interferes with sugar crystal formation, keeping the fudge smooth and tender.
Nut meats
Add crunch and texture contrast to the soft, airy candy.
Baking powder
Releases gas that helps lighten the foam-based mixture.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup into the egg whites. The syrup must go in slowly while beating constantly. Pouring too fast or letting the mixture stop moving can deflate the foam and leave the candy dense, while the hot syrup partly cooks the egg white proteins and sets the structure.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesOranges in SyrupOranges in Syrup9 recipesSyrup SauceSyrup Sauce6 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes