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Dessert

Caramel Icing

A sweet glaze made from sugar, cream, butter, egg whites, powdered sugar, chocolate, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Caramel Icing

Why it works: Chocolate and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,020 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Caramel Icing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Combine sugar, cream, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until thick enough to spread on the cake.

Finish the icing

  1. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth in a separate bowl.

  2. Combine powdered sugar, grated chocolate, sugar, and boiling water in a saucepan.

  3. Boil until smooth, then remove from heat.

  4. Add the beaten egg whites and vanilla extract, then mix well.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Sweetens the icing and, when boiled, thickens into a spreadable caramel-like base.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the caramel a smooth, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture in the icing.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff froth, they add airy lightness to the finished icing.
Powdered sugar
Dissolves easily into the hot mixture, adding sweetness and a smooth texture.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the icing.

The step that matters

Boil the cream and sugar until thick enough to spread. Boiling drives off water and concentrates the sugar, so the icing firms up to a spreadable consistency as it cools. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while cooking too long can make it grainy or hard.

“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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