Why it works: Coffee and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Coffee Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Stir powdered sugar into the coffee until thick enough to spread.
Cover the cake with the icing and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours in a cool place.
If a thicker icing is desired, add a second layer.
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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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coffee
- Provides the liquid and the coffee flavor, and its amount sets how thin or thick the icing starts.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the coffee and thickens it, adding sweetness and a spreadable body.
The step that matters
Stir to the right thickness. Powdered sugar thickens the coffee as it dissolves and absorbs liquid. Adding too much makes the icing stiff and dry, while adding too little leaves it runny and likely to slide off the cake.
“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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