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 ↓
Plain Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the egg white and ice water, and beat slowly.
Add cream of tartar and continue beating.
Mix in the lemon juice or vanilla extract.
Gradually add the confectioners' sugar while beating thoroughly.
If the frosting is too soft, add more sugar.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg white
- Whipped to form the foam that gives the frosting its light, airy body.
- Confectioners' sugar
- Sweetens the frosting and, as it is beaten in, stiffens it into a spreadable texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg white, helping it whip to a more stable foam.
The step that matters
Gradually add the confectioners' sugar while beating thoroughly. Adding sugar all at once can deflate the whipped egg white foam and leave lumps. Adding it slowly and beating well keeps the foam stable and the texture smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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