Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓
Creamy Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cream together the butter and powdered sugar until very light.
Add the thick sweet cream gradually.
Place the bowl in boiling water and stir until the sauce is heated for a few moments.
Flavor to taste and serve.
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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Butter + creamtop 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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Provides fat and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy body.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily, helping the creamed mixture turn light and smooth.
- Thick sweet cream
- Adds moisture and dairy richness, loosening the butter and sugar into a pourable sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the cream gradually. Adding cream slowly lets the butter and sugar emulsify into a smooth mixture. Dumping it in at once can cause the fat to separate and leave the sauce grainy or broken.
“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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