Why it works: Egg and sugar 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 ↓
Plain Icing for Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Separate the egg white from the yolk.
Sift the powdered sugar.
Beat the egg white until it foams.
Make the icing
Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until smooth.
Keep the icing very cold until ready to use.
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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Egg + sugartop 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 white
- Its proteins trap air as it foams, giving the icing a light, stable structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the foam to add sweetness and body, thickening the icing as it sets.
The step that matters
Gradually beat in the powdered sugar. Egg white foam is held up by air bubbles wrapped in proteins. Adding sugar too quickly deflates the foam and can leave lumps, so add it slowly while beating until smooth.
“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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