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 ↓
Maple Sugar Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Boil maple sugar and boiling water until it threads from the spoon.
Pour the mixture over the beaten egg whites and beat until cold.
Finish the cake
Spread the icing between layers and on top of the cake.
Sprinkle desiccated coconut on top for a decorative effect.
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.
-
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
- Maple sugar
- Provides the sweetness and maple flavour, and sets into a firm icing as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they give the icing its light, airy structure.
The step that matters
Boiling the maple sugar and water to the threading stage. The syrup must reach the right concentration before it meets the egg whites. Too little boiling leaves the icing runny and slow to set; too much makes it grainy or hard 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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.