Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Boiled Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Boil the sugar and water without stirring until the syrup threads.
Make the icing
Beat the egg white until stiff, then add the cream of tartar.
Pour the boiling syrup over the egg white in a fine stream while beating continuously.
When thick enough to spread, apply it to the cake before it becomes too thick.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 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
- Granulated sugar
- Boiled into a syrup that sweetens the icing and gives it body when poured over the egg white.
- Egg white
- Whipped into a foam that holds air and, once heated by the syrup, sets into a light, spreadable structure.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg white so its foam holds its shape longer.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling syrup in a fine stream while beating. Adding the hot syrup too quickly or without continuous beating can unevenly cook or deflate the egg white. A thin stream with constant beating spreads the heat so the foam cooks into a smooth, stable icing.
“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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