Why it works: Egg and sugar 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 ↓
Yellow Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Mix until smooth.
Spread the frosting on the cake while it is still hot.
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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Egg + sugartop 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
- Egg yolks
- Provide richness and body, and help the frosting thicken as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the frosting a smooth, glossy texture.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the mixture so it spreads smoothly instead of running off the cake.
The step that matters
Spread while still hot. Cornstarch thickens as it cools and sets, so spreading after it has firmed can make the frosting hard to work with and leave it uneven.
“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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