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 ↓
Fondants
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar.
Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches 240°F (115°C).
Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
Stir the mixture until it becomes creamy and thick.
Color and flavor as desired.
Use for various candies.
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.
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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
- Sugar
- Forms the sweet base, and as it cools and is stirred it crystallizes into a smooth, creamy texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, keeping the fondant smooth.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture as it cools. Stirring after cooling controls sugar crystal formation. Stirring too early or too vigorously while hot can produce large, grainy crystals, so the texture depends on timing.
“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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