Name: Cream Icing
Ingredients: 2 cups confectioners' sugar; 2 tablespoons cream; 1 cup chopped pecans; 1 cup raisins

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Cream Icing

Ingredients

2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cream
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup raisins

Directions

Make the icing

In a bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and cream until smooth.

Assemble the cake

Spread half of the icing on the lower layer of the cake.
Sprinkle chopped pecans and raisins over the icing.
Spread the remaining icing on top of the nuts and fruit.
Place the second layer of the cake on top.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Pecans + raisintop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together139 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Cream + pecanstop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together706 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar + pecanstop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,962 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Confectioners' sugar: Dissolves into the cream to form a smooth, sweet icing that holds the layers together.
Cream: Adds moisture and fat so the sugar blends into a smooth, spreadable icing.
Chopped pecans: Adds crunch and nutty flavor between the icing layers.
Raisins: Adds chewy texture and concentrated sweetness between the icing layers.