Why it works: Butter and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Butter or Vienna Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Soften the butter in a bowl.
Gradually beat in the sieved icing sugar until the mixture is white and soft.
Add your desired flavouring and colouring.
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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh butter
- Provides fat and richness, and when beaten with sugar it traps air for a soft, spreadable texture.
- Icing sugar
- Sweetens the icing and, beaten into the butter, gives it body and a smooth, fluffy consistency.
The step that matters
Beating in the icing sugar. Sugar added gradually to softened butter helps create a smooth, light emulsion. Adding it all at once or using cold butter can leave lumps or a dense, grainy texture.
“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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