Why it works: Maple syrup and cream work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 607 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Maple Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the maple syrup for 4 hours.
Cool the syrup slightly, but do not let it get cold.
Add the cream of tartar and the beaten egg white.
Beat the mixture until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
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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Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together607 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Maple syrup + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,156 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
- Maple syrup
- Provides the sweetness and maple flavor, and forms the body of the frosting.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg white, helping its foam stay stable while it is beaten.
- Egg white
- Traps air when beaten, giving the frosting a light, fluffy structure.
The step that matters
Cool the syrup slightly, but do not let it get cold.. Syrup that cools too far can thicken or begin to crystallize, so it will not blend smoothly into the beaten egg white and may leave a grainy or lumpy 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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