Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Boiled Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 240°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and boiling water in a pan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Add cream of tartar and do not stir again.
Cook the syrup until it reaches the soft ball stage (about 240°F or 115°C).
Whip and finish
Beat the egg white until stiff peaks form.
Slowly pour the syrup into the beaten egg white while continuing to beat.
Add a pinch of salt and any desired flavoring.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Granulated sugar
- Provides the sweetness and the body of the syrup that becomes the frosting.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the syrup, helping keep it smooth and stabilizing the whipped egg white foam.
- Egg white
- Whips into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
The step that matters
Cooking the syrup to soft ball stage. Syrup that is undercooked stays too runny to hold its shape, while overcooked syrup turns stiff and grainy. Stopping near 240°F (115°C) gives a frosting that is smooth and spreadable once it cools.
“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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