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 ↓
Sugar Icing for Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
Gradually sift in the powdered sugar.
Add the finely powdered starch and beat until smooth.
Ice and dry
Spread the icing evenly over the cakes with a spoon or broad knife.
Place the cakes in a cool oven to dry and harden without coloring.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Loaf sugar
- Forms the sweet body of the icing once whisked into the egg whites.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the icing its light structure.
- Fine starch
- Stabilizes the foam and helps the icing set smooth and firm.
The step that matters
Beating the egg whites to a stiff froth. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks before sugar is added. Under-whipped whites produce a runny icing that will not hold its shape or dry properly.
“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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