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 ↓
Iceing for Rich Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
In a bowl, combine the sugar and egg whites.
Beat the mixture well with a spoon until it becomes very white and thick.
Ice the cake
Spread the icing over a cake with a spoon.
Smooth it with a knife and garnish as desired before it dries.
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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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
- Very fine sifted sugar
- Provides sweetness and bulk, forming the body of the icing.
- Egg whites
- Whipped with the sugar to create a thick, stable, glossy structure that sets as it dries.
The step that matters
Beating until very white and thick. Beating incorporates air into the egg whites and dissolves the sugar, so the icing thickens and holds its shape. Under-beaten icing stays runny and will not spread or set cleanly on the cake.
“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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