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Dessert

Marshmallow Frosting

A frosting made from sugar, marshmallows, cream of tartar, egg whites, water, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a saucepan, mix the sugar, cream of tartar, and water. Boil until it reaches the thread stage.

  2. Add the marshmallows and stir until they melt completely.

Finish and spread

  1. Remove the mixture from heat and pour it over the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  2. Beat the mixture until thick, then add vanilla flavoring.

  3. Spread the frosting over your cake.

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. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Forms the syrup base that sets into a sweet, glossy frosting structure.
Egg whites
Whipped to foam, they give the frosting its light, airy volume.
Marshmallows
Melt into the syrup, adding body, sweetness and a soft, chewy texture.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the syrup, helping keep it smooth and stabilising the whipped egg whites.

The step that matters

Boiling the syrup to the thread stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration; too little boiling leaves the frosting soft and runny, while overcooking makes it hard and grainy as 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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