Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream Candy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a porcelain or granulated kettle, combine the sugar and water.
Dissolve the mixture at the back of the stove.
Once dissolved, move it to the front and let it boil until it crisps in water.
Stir in the rose or vanilla extract and cream of tartar.
Shape and finish
Pour the mixture into a buttered pan or platter.
When cool, work the candy until it is perfectly white.
Cut it into small squares and set aside to dry.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Rose + buttertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,922 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White sugar
- Forms the candy's sweet body and crystallises as it cools and is worked.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidity that helps prevent large sugar crystals, keeping the candy smooth.
The step that matters
Boiling until it crisps in water. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set firm. Undercooked syrup stays soft and sticky, while overcooked syrup turns hard or brittle. Testing a drop in cold water shows when it has reached the correct stage.
“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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