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 ↓
Marshmallow Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil sugar in enough water to dissolve it until it spins a thread in cold water.
Make the frosting
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Add the torn marshmallows to the egg whites.
Pour the syrup over the mixture, beating constantly until cool enough to spread on cake.
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
- Granulated sugar
- Dissolved and boiled into a syrup that sets the frosting's sweetness and structure.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy body.
- Marshmallows
- Melt into the warm foam, adding sweetness and a soft, stabilising texture.
The step that matters
Pouring the syrup while beating. Hot syrup must be poured in a thin stream while beating constantly so it cooks the egg white foam smoothly rather than scrambling it. Beating until cool keeps the foam glossy and spreadable.
“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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