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 ↓
Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine the dark brown sugar and water.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water.
Whip the frosting
Slowly pour the hot mixture over the beaten egg white while continuously beating.
Continue beating until the frosting is ready to spread on the cake.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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
- Dark brown sugar
- Provides sweetness and caramel flavour, and its syrup sets the frosting's body.
- Egg white
- Whipped into foam, it gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be cooked into a syrup evenly.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot syrup into the egg white. Pour slowly while beating constantly. Hot syrup poured in a thin stream is absorbed into the foam, while a fast pour or a pause in beating can cook or deflate the egg white and leave the frosting lumpy or 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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