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
Make the syrup
Combine the sugar and cold water in a saucepan.
Stir over low heat until it reaches boiling point.
Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes.
Flavour and cool
Pour the syrup into a bowl and add the coffee essence.
Stir until the icing becomes less transparent as it cools.
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 or fine castor sugar
- Dissolves into the syrup and sets into a sweet, smooth icing as it cools.
- Coffee essence
- Gives the icing its coffee flavour and aroma.
The step that matters
Simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. Simmering concentrates the sugar syrup. Too short a time leaves the icing runny, while too long makes it stiff and grainy once it cools. Watch the timing closely.
“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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