Name: Cold Chocolate Icing
Ingredients: 1 egg, beaten very light; enough powdered sugar to stiffen; cake chocolate (size of a hickory nut); butter (size of a hickory nut)

Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cold Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

1 egg, beaten very light
enough powdered sugar to stiffen
cake chocolate (size of a hickory nut)
butter (size of a hickory nut)

Directions

Melt the butter and chocolate together.
Stir in the beaten egg and enough powdered sugar to achieve a stiff consistency.

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.

Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Chocolate + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,543 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg: Adds richness and helps bind the frosting into a smooth, spreadable mass.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens and thickens the frosting so it holds a stiff, spreadable consistency.
Cake chocolate: Provides the chocolate flavour and body of the frosting.
Butter: Adds fat for smooth texture and helps the chocolate melt into a glossy base.

“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.