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Dessert

Butter-cups

A molasses-based candy formed into cups that encase a fondant filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓

Butter-cups

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Combine molasses, sugar, boiling water, butter, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until a firm ball forms in cold water, stirring only in the last few minutes.

  3. Pour onto a buttered platter and let cool.

Shape and cut

  1. Once cool, pull the candy until light colored.

  2. Shape the candy on a floured board to enclose a 1-inch diameter roll of fondant.

  3. Press the edges of the candy together over the fondant.

  4. Pull the candy into a long strip and cut into small pieces.

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.

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. Butter + creamtop 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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Molasses
Provides the main sweet, dark flavor and the chewy body of the candy.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the candy set firm when boiled to a firm ball.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the syrup to keep the candy smooth and prevent grainy sugar crystals.
Butter
Adds richness and softens the texture of the candy.

The step that matters

Stirring only at the end of boiling. Stirring sugar syrup while it boils can encourage crystals to form, leading to a grainy candy. Stirring only in the last minutes helps keep the texture smooth.

“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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