Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Sauce for Same
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Beat the butter until creamy.
Gradually add powdered sugar and continue beating until very light.
Add cream and flavor to taste.
Cook
Cook for a few minutes in a double boiler.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides fat and richness, and when beaten it traps air for a light texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and, when beaten into the butter, helps make the sauce smooth and light.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, loosening the mixture into a smooth, pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until very light. Adding the sugar in small amounts lets it blend fully into the butter. Dumping it in at once can leave a grainy or lumpy texture. Beating well incorporates air, which makes the sauce light rather than dense.
“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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