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 ↓
Boiled Icing
enough for a 4-layer cakeIngredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil sugar in water until it reaches a 'hair' stage.
Whip and finish
Beat the egg white to a stiff froth.
While someone else slowly pours the syrup into the egg white, continue beating with an egg beater.
Use immediately; this is enough for a 4-layer cake.
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
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the water and cooks to a syrup that sweetens and sets the icing as it cools.
- Egg white
- Whipped into a foam that gives the icing its light, airy structure.
The step that matters
Pouring the syrup into the egg white. The syrup must be hot and poured slowly while beating constantly. Sudden or cold additions can deflate the foam, and the hot syrup gently cooks the egg white, which lets the icing hold its shape.
“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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