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 ↓
Fondant for Candies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine the confectioner's sugar and cold water in a porcelain-lined kettle on the back of the stove.
Allow the mixture to boil slowly for 15 minutes without stirring.
Test for doneness by dropping a small amount into cold water; it should form a soft ball.
Work the fondant
Place the fondant in a dish of cold water, then flavor and beat with a wooden paddle until cool enough to touch.
Work the fondant with your hands until it is pliable and creamy.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Confectioner's sugar
- Forms the sweet, fine-grained base that sets into the smooth coating.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the syrup to help prevent crystals from forming, keeping the fondant smooth.
The step that matters
Boiling without stirring. Stirring while the syrup boils lets sugar crystals form and spread, making the fondant grainy. Keeping the mixture undisturbed lets it reach the right concentration for a smooth texture.
“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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