Why it works: Orange and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Orange Icing
Ingredients
Directions
Grate the rind of the orange and place it in a bowl.
Pour 1 tablespoon of boiling water over the grated rind and let it stand for a few minutes.
Add the orange juice and stir until thick.
Gradually mix in powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached.
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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Orange juice
- Provides acidity and liquid that dissolves the sugar into a smooth, pourable icing.
- Powdered sugar
- Provides sweetness and bulk, thickening the liquid into an icing that sets as it cools.
The step that matters
Adding the powdered sugar. Sugar should be added gradually so the icing thickens evenly without becoming lumpy or too stiff. Adding it all at once makes it hard to control the consistency once it is too thick to loosen.
“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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