Why it works: Sugar and egg 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 ↓
Icing for Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the icing
Beat the sugar in a mortar.
Add rosewater and the beaten, strained egg whites, and whisk well until combined.
Ice and set the cake
When the cake is almost cold, dip a feather in the icing and cover the cake thoroughly.
Place the cake in a 300°F (150°C) oven to harden, but do not let it discolor.
Store
Store the cake in a dry place.
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 + eggtop 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 whites
- Whipped and heated, they set into a firm, glossy coating over the cake.
- Fine sugar
- Dissolves into the egg whites, adding sweetness and helping the icing harden into a smooth shell.
- Rosewater
- Adds a floral aroma that flavours the icing.
The step that matters
Drying in the oven. Heat must be low enough to dry and harden the icing without browning it. Higher heat or too long in the oven causes the sugar and egg white coating to darken, spoiling its pale appearance.
“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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