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 ↓
To Make Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil without stirring until it reaches the soft ball stage (236°F - 238°F).
To test, drop a little into cold water; it should form a soft ball.
Cool and work the fondant
Remove from heat immediately and let it cool until a crust forms.
Stir until thick and creamy; avoid stirring while too warm to prevent graininess.
If it becomes grainy, reheat with a little cold water.
Flavor
Flavor with nuts, fruits, or other flavorings as desired.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the sweet crystalline structure of the fondant once cooled and stirred.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, keeping the texture smooth.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup evenly.
The step that matters
Stirring while the syrup cools. Stirring too early, while the syrup is still warm, lets sugar crystals form and makes the fondant grainy. Letting it cool undisturbed until a crust forms lets the mixture set into a smooth texture when worked.
“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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