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 ↓
To Prepare Icing for Bride or Other Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
In a clean, round-bottomed china bowl, break in the egg whites.
Add ½ pound of powdered sugar and beat vigorously with a wooden spatula until it thickens.
Add cream of tartar and indigo blue, then gradually add another ¼ pound of sugar, beating continuously.
Continue adding sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the icing reaches your desired thickness.
Ensure no egg yolk or grease contaminates the bowl or utensils.
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).
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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 + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped with sugar to form a stable foam that gives the icing its body and structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the egg whites to sweeten the icing and stiffen it as it is beaten.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg whites, helping the foam stay stable and resist collapsing.
The step that matters
Keep grease and egg yolk out of the bowl. Fat and yolk interfere with egg white foam, so even small traces can stop the icing from thickening properly. Clean bowls and utensils prevent this.
“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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