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 ↓
Maple Sugar Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Break the maple sugar into small pieces.
Place the sugar in a saucepan with boiling water and stir occasionally until dissolved.
Boil without stirring until the syrup threads when dropped from a spoon.
Finish the frosting
Gradually pour the syrup onto the beaten egg whites while constantly beating the mixture.
Continue beating until the frosting reaches the right consistency to spread.
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
- Maple sugar
- Provides the sweetness and maple flavour that define the frosting.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with the hot syrup to form a light, airy, spreadable structure.
- Boiling water
- Dissolves the maple sugar so it can be cooked into a syrup.
The step that matters
Pouring the syrup onto the egg whites. Pour the hot syrup slowly while beating constantly. Pouring too fast can cook the whites unevenly or deflate them, so the frosting loses its airy body.
“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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