Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Butter Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
In a saucepan, combine sugar, cream of tartar, and milk over gentle heat; stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Boil without stirring until it reaches the soft ball stage (238°F).
Add butter when the syrup is nearly done.
Finish
Pour onto a warm, buttered platter and finish as desired.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and forms the syrup that sets into the fondant's structure.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that partly breaks down sugar, helping the fondant stay smooth and fine-textured.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and dissolves the sugar, softening the texture of the finished fondant.
- Butter
- Adds fat, which makes the fondant softer and more tender to eat.
The step that matters
Boil without stirring to the soft ball stage. Sugar syrup must reach the right temperature to set to the intended firmness. Stirring during boiling can trigger sugar crystals to form early, leaving the fondant grainy rather than 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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