Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Hard Sauce, or Fairy Butter
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, cream the butter until smooth.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla, mixing well.
Pack the mixture into a dish and stamp with a butter mold, or pile it lightly on a glass dish.
Refrigerate to harden before serving with hot puddings.
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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 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
- Butter
- Provides fat and creamy texture, and firms up when chilled to hold its shape.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the butter for a fine, spreadable texture.
- Vanilla
- Adds aroma and a rounded flavor that complements the butter and sugar.
The step that matters
Refrigerate to harden before serving. Butter is mostly fat, so it stays soft at room temperature. Chilling firms it so the shape holds and it does not melt into the hot pudding it is served with.
“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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