Skip to main content
Dessert

Sugar Candy

A hard candy made by boiling sugar with water, cream of tartar, butter, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Sugar Candy

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sugar Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the syrup

  1. Dissolve the sugar in a minimal amount of water over low heat.

  2. When the mixture is about halfway done, add the cream of tartar.

  3. When nearly done, stir in the butter.

Pour and test

  1. Prepare buttered plates for pouring.

  2. Add the vanilla extract to each plate.

  3. Once the candy is ready, pour it into the plates quickly.

  4. To test if the candy is ready, cool a small amount in water; it should crack against the side of the cup.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Sugar
Forms the sweet base, and its concentration sets the texture as the candy cools.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing into a grainy candy.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the candy and gives it a smoother, richer texture.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma that gives the candy its flavor.

The step that matters

Testing when the candy is ready. Sugar candy hardens as its water boils off and its concentration rises. Pouring too early leaves a soft, sticky candy, while cooking too long makes it brittle or burnt. The cold-water test checks the stage before pouring.

“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.

More sugar candy recipes

Maple 18Brown 10Vanilla 4White 4 See all 44 →

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes