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 ↓
Boiled Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a graniteware saucepan.
Place over low heat until the sugar melts.
Use a damp cloth to wipe down the sides of the pan to prevent crystallization.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 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
- Granulated sugar
- Forms the body of the fondant and provides its sweetness.
- Cream of tartar
- A mild acid that partly breaks down sugar, helping keep the fondant smooth rather than grainy.
The step that matters
Wiping down the pan sides. Sugar crystals clinging to the pan walls can fall back into the syrup and seed crystallization throughout the batch. Wiping them away with a damp cloth keeps the syrup clear and the final fondant 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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