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 ↓
Plain Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Make the frosting
Beat the egg white just enough to thin it, without making it frothy.
Add the powdered sugar, measuring it evenly without heaping.
Stir with a fork until the frosting is smooth and light; the longer you beat it, the finer it will be.
Mix in the vanilla extract until well combined.
Ice the cake
Place the frosting in the center of the cake and press it outward to the edges.
Set the cake in a cool place or refrigerator to set the icing quickly.
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.
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Egg white
- Thins and binds the sugar into a smooth, spreadable frosting base.
- Powdered sugar
- Provides sweetness and the body that gives the frosting its structure.
- Vanilla extract
- Adds aroma and a warm flavor to the sweet frosting.
The step that matters
Beat the egg white just enough to thin it. Beating air into the egg white too far makes it frothy, which leads to a foamy, unstable frosting that does not spread smoothly or set evenly.
“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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