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Dessert

Almond Frosting

A frosting made with almond butter, rose water, powdered sugar, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Beat the egg whites and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gently fold in the almond butter until well combined.

Finish the cake

  1. Spread the frosting on the cake and let it dry.

  2. Cover with a plain icing if desired.

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.

  1. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,465 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that gives the frosting its light, stiff structure.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the frosting and helps stabilise the whipped egg white foam.
Almond butter
Adds fat and nutty flavour, and thickens the frosting as it is folded in.
Rose water
Adds a subtle floral aroma to the frosting.

The step that matters

Folding in the almond butter. Whipped egg white foam deflates easily. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps air in the mixture so the frosting stays light and spreadable.

“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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