Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Icing
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the lemon juice and cold water.
Gradually add confectioner's sugar until the mixture is thick enough to spread easily on cake.
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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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Confectioner's sugar
- Provides sweetness and bulk, thickening the liquid into a spreadable frosting.
- Lemon juice
- Adds bright acidity and lemon flavour that balances the sugar's sweetness.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar gradually. Confectioner's sugar thickens the liquid quickly, so adding it in small amounts lets you stop at a spreadable consistency. Adding it all at once can make the icing too stiff or lumpy.
“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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