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 ↓
Fondant or Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Add ½ teacup of water to 1 lb of coffee and sugar and let it stand for an hour.
Dissolve the cream of tartar in a little cold water and add it to the sugar mixture.
Cook the syrup
Set the pan over high heat and stir constantly until it begins to boil.
Stop stirring once it starts boiling and test by dropping some into cold water.
When it forms a soft ball that holds its shape, pour it into a cold, wet pan without stirring.
Beat and knead
Let it cool without stirring until almost cold, then beat it with a large spoon or paddle.
Once it turns white and begins to harden, knead it like bread dough.
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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Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,339 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coffee a sugar
- Provides the sweet base that sets into the soft, creamy fondant.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent sugar from crystallising into a grainy texture.
The step that matters
Stop stirring once the syrup boils. Stirring after boiling starts encourages sugar crystals to form, which makes the fondant grainy. Leaving it undisturbed keeps the texture smooth.
“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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