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Dessert

Maple Sugar Frosting

A spreadable frosting made from maple sugar, boiling water, egg white, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Maple Sugar Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine maple sugar and boiling water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until it forms a soft ball when tested in cold water.

  3. Add cream of tartar and continue boiling.

Finish the frosting

  1. Pour the syrup onto the beaten egg white.

  2. Beat until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.

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.

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Maple sugar
Provides the sweetness and maple flavor, and forms the syrup that sets the frosting.
Egg white
Whips into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the syrup, helping it stay smooth and keeping the egg white foam stable.

The step that matters

Pouring the syrup onto the egg white. The syrup must be hot but not so cold that it sets, and it should be poured in a thin steady stream while beating. Adding it all at once or too cold can cause lumps or a dense, uneven frosting.

“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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