Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
To Prepare Icing for Bride or Other Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg whites in a clean, round-bottomed china bowl.
Add half of the powdered sugar and beat vigorously with a wooden spatula until it begins to thicken.
Add cream of tartar and indigo blue.
Gradually add more powdered sugar, one teaspoon at a time, while continuing to beat.
Keep beating until the icing reaches your desired thickness.
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 + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped to form the foam that gives the icing its light, airy structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and, as it is beaten in, thickens the foam into a spreadable icing.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic stabilizer that helps the beaten egg white foam hold its shape.
The step that matters
Add the powdered sugar gradually. Adding sugar too quickly or all at once can weigh down the egg white foam and deflate it. Adding it slowly while beating lets the foam absorb the sugar and stay stable and smooth.
“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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