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Dessert

Tutti Frutti Icing

A sweet icing made from sugar syrup, egg whites, almonds, raisins, and citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Tutti Frutti Icing

Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Tutti Frutti Icing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the icing

  1. Boil the sugar and water until the syrup is waxy.

  2. Pour the syrup over the beaten egg whites and beat until cool.

Finish and spread

  1. Add the almonds, raisins, and citron, and spread on the 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.

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.

  1. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Raisin + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the syrup that sets into the icing's sweet, glossy body.
Egg whites
Beaten into the hot syrup to add foam and a light, airy texture.
Almonds
Add chopped crunch and nutty body to the icing.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the icing.

The step that matters

Pour the syrup over the beaten egg whites and beat until cool. The syrup must be hot and poured in a thin stream while beating, so it cooks the egg whites into a stable foam. If the syrup is poured too fast or cools too much, the icing can turn grainy or fail to thicken.

“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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