Why it works: Egg and sugar 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 ↓
Fruit-cream Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the base
Mix together the water and fruit juice in a bowl.
Add the egg white and stir until combined.
Finish and use
Gradually add finely powdered sugar until the icing is smooth and has a consistency similar to other icing recipes.
Use the icing immediately.
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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Egg + sugartop 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
- Egg white
- Adds body and helps bind the sugar into a smooth, spreadable icing.
- Finely powdered sugar
- Provides sweetness and, as it dissolves, thickens the liquid into icing.
- Fruit juice
- Adds flavor and a little acidity, plus liquid to loosen the sugar.
The step that matters
Adding the powdered sugar. Powdered sugar should be added gradually so it dissolves and blends evenly. Adding it all at once creates lumps and makes it hard to judge when the icing has reached the right thickness.
“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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