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 Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
Stir until boiling, then stop stirring.
Boil until it forms a soft ball in cold water.
Cool and work
Pour onto an oiled pan or platter.
Once cooled slightly, work the mixture until it forms a soft, creamy mass.
Flavor and color to taste.
Melt to use
Heat over hot water until melted.
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.
-
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
- Cane sugar
- Forms the sweet, crystalline base that gives the icing its body once worked.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity that helps keep sugar crystals small, so the icing stays smooth.
The step that matters
Boil until it forms a soft ball in cold water.. The syrup's final texture depends on how far it has cooked. Stopping too early leaves the icing runny, while cooking too far makes it hard and brittle once worked.
“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
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.