Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Snow Pyramids
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cream
Whip the cream until stiff, then sweeten and flavor to taste.
Place the whipped cream in a serving dish.
Make the meringue and serve
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and sweeten with powdered sugar.
Drop a tablespoon of the egg white mixture in the center of each dish of cream to form a pyramid shape.
Serve ice cold.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg 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
- Heavy cream
- Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the light, airy base of the dessert.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to a stiff froth that holds its shape, giving the pyramids their light, airy structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cream and dissolves into the egg whites, adding sweetness and stabilizing the foam.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to a stiff froth. Egg whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks so the spooned mounds keep a pyramid shape. Under-beaten whites will spread and collapse, while any trace of fat or yolk in the bowl can prevent them from whipping up properly.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.