Why it works: Sugar and coffee are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,344 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Coffee Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the icing sugar and coffee together.
Warm the mixture over low heat until smooth.
Use the icing as directed for cherry 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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Sugar + coffeetop 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
- Icing sugar
- Provides sweetness and the bulk that gives the icing its body.
- Very strong coffee
- Supplies the liquid that dissolves the sugar and flavours the icing.
The step that matters
Warm the mixture over low heat until smooth. Gentle heat helps the sugar dissolve fully into the liquid. Strong heat can scorch the sugar or make the icing grainy, so keep the heat low and stir until no lumps remain.
“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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