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Dessert

Divinity Fondant

A sugar candy made by boiling sugar and corn syrup, beating egg white, and folding to form a firm fondant.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Divinity Fondant

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine sugar and boiling water in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves, then add corn syrup.

  2. Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil.

Whip the egg white

  1. Beat the egg white until light.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of syrup when the mixture reaches boiling, and continue beating until light.

Finish and shape

  1. Boil the remaining syrup to the soft ball stage (240°F).

  2. Slowly pour the syrup over the beaten egg white, folding with a knife until the mixture is white and firm enough to mold.

  3. Knead until smooth and shape into desired pieces.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,678 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,168 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,484 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Forms the sweet base and, when boiled to temperature, the firm candy structure.
Corn syrup
Interferes with sugar crystallization, keeping the candy smooth rather than grainy.
Egg white
Traps air when beaten, giving the fondant its light, airy, white texture.

The step that matters

Boiling the remaining syrup to 240°F. Sugar syrup must reach the soft ball stage to set properly. Too low and the candy stays soft and sticky; too high and it becomes hard and brittle.

“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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