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
In a saucepan, combine sugar and boiling water.
Boil without stirring until the syrup forms threads.
Whip the egg white
In a separate bowl, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form. Add cream of tartar.
Combine and spread
Slowly pour the boiling syrup over the egg white while continuously beating. Continue beating until the icing is thick enough to spread.
Apply to the cake before it thickens too much.
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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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream 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
- Dissolves into the syrup that sets into the glossy, sweet body of the icing.
- Egg white
- Whipped into a foam that gives the icing its light, airy structure.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the egg white, helping it whip to a more stable foam.
The step that matters
Pouring the boiling syrup into the egg white. The syrup must be poured slowly while beating constantly. Pouring too fast or stopping to beat can deflate the foam or cook the egg white unevenly, and the icing will not hold its shape.
“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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