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 ↓
Frosting for Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the frosting
Boil the water in a saucepan.
Add the frosting sugar and stir until combined.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Stir in the beaten egg white until well combined.
Finish
Frost your cake with the mixture.
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 + 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
- Frosting sugar
- Provides the sweetness and bulk that make up the frosting.
- Egg white
- Adds body and a light, airy texture to the frosting as it is beaten in.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool slightly before adding the egg white. If the mixture is still too hot, it can cook the beaten egg white and cause it to lose its airy structure, leaving the frosting dense and grainy.
“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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