Name: Cream Frosting
Ingredients: 1 egg white; ½ cup cold water or juice of 1 lemon; powdered sugar (to achieve desired consistency); vanilla or almond extract (to taste)

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Cream Frosting

Ingredients

1 egg white
½ cup cold water or juice of 1 lemon
powdered sugar (to achieve desired consistency)
vanilla or almond extract (to taste)

Directions

Make the frosting

In a bowl, combine the egg white with cold water or lemon juice.
Gradually stir in powdered sugar until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency.
Add vanilla or almond extract for flavor.

Serve

Use immediately to frost your cake.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,961 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg white: Whipped or mixed with liquid, it gives the frosting body and a light, smooth structure.
Powdered sugar: Dissolves into the liquid to add sweetness and thicken the mixture to a spreadable texture.
Lemon juice: Adds a little acidity that brightens the flavor and helps balance the sweetness.