Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Icing for Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Sift the sugar and starch together.
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Gradually add the sugar mixture to the egg whites, beating continuously for 30 minutes.
Finish the cake
Spread the icing on the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.
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.
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 icing its light, airy structure.
- Double-refined sugar
- Sweetens the icing and, once beaten in, adds body and firmness to the foam.
- Fine starch
- Absorbs moisture from the sugar and helps the icing hold its shape.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar gradually while beating. Egg white foam is held together by a fragile network of proteins and air. Adding the sugar mixture slowly and beating continuously lets it incorporate evenly and keeps the foam stiff. Dumping it in all at once can deflate the whites and leave the icing dense and runny.
“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.
More cake icing recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.