Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Frosting for Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the frosting
Combine the egg white, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar in a bowl, then beat the mixture thoroughly.
Gradually add more powdered sugar until the frosting is thick enough to cut with a knife.
Frost the cake
While the cake is warm, apply a coat of frosting to help it stick without pressing the loaf.
Once the first coat is cool, add the remaining frosting.
Smooth the frosting with a knife dipped in cold water.
Use the back of the knife to mark lines for slicing the cake.
Smooth the sides of the cake.
Decorate
For decorating, make the frosting stiffer.
Use a cone-shaped tube made from rolled writing paper to apply the frosting.
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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Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg white
- Whipped with sugar, it forms the airy body and glossy structure of the frosting.
- Powdered sugar
- Provides sweetness and bulk, and thickens the frosting as more is added.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that helps stabilize the beaten egg white and balances the sweetness.
- Corn starch
- Absorbs moisture in the frosting, helping it hold its shape and stay stable.
The step that matters
Apply the first coat while the cake is warm, and the second only after it cools. A warm first coat softens slightly so it grips the cake without pressing on the loaf. Spreading the second coat on a warm cake would melt the frosting and make it slide, so the first coat must cool first.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, corn. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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