Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Fondant for French Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the syrup
Combine water, sugar, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
Boil without stirring for 10 minutes.
Test by dropping a little into cold water; it should form a soft ball.
Remove from heat and place in a cool area.
Beat and finish
Once a little scum forms on top, beat with a wooden spoon until creamy.
Flavor and mold 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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the syrup and recrystallizes into fine crystals that give fondant its smooth texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acid that partly breaks down sugar, helping prevent large, grainy crystals from forming.
The step that matters
Let the syrup cool before beating. Stirring or beating while the syrup is still hot lets large sugar crystals form, leaving a grainy texture instead of a smooth, creamy one.
“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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