Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Icing for Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Beat and sift the sugar.
Combine sugar, rose water, and beaten egg whites in a mortar. Mix well until smooth.
Ice and set the cake
When the cake is almost cold, dip a brush in the icing and cover the cake thoroughly.
Place the cake in the oven to harden, but do not let it discolor.
Store the cake in a dry place.
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 + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Rose + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,840 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fine sugar
- Forms the bulk of the icing and provides sweetness and body.
- Egg whites
- Bind with the sugar to give the icing structure and help it set hard.
- Rose water
- Adds aroma and liquid to loosen the sugar and egg white mixture.
The step that matters
Placing the cake in the oven to harden. Egg white and sugar icing sets through gentle heat. Too much heat or too long a time causes browning, so the icing must be watched closely and kept pale.
“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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