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 ↓
Cream Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Boil the sugar and water for 6 minutes until it forms a thread when poured from a spoon.
While the sugar boils, beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Pour the syrup in a fine stream onto the egg whites while beating with a hand mixer.
Finish and spread
Continue beating until thick enough to spread.
Dip a knife in cold water and smooth the icing over the cake.
Beat until the icing is almost cold.
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 + 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
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the icing and, dissolved into syrup, gives it body so it can be spread.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a stiff froth, they trap air and give the icing a light, fluffy texture.
- Boiling water
- Dissolves the powdered sugar into a syrup that thickens as it cools and beats.
The step that matters
Boil the sugar and water to the thread stage. Sugar syrup firms as its concentration rises. Stopping before it forms a thread leaves the icing runny, while boiling too long makes it stiff and grainy once cooled.
“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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