Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
French Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the fondant
Combine equal parts of thick sweet cream and un-beaten egg whites in a bowl.
Stir in enough confectioner's sugar to form a moldable dough.
Use it and keep it right
Use this fondant to stuff dates, figs, and nuts, or for various chocolate creams and candies.
Ensure to use pure granulated sugar and avoid moist beet sugar.
Make fondant on a clear, cool day for best results.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Thick sweet cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the fondant a soft, smooth body.
- Egg whites
- Bind the cream and sugar together and add moisture to the dough.
- Confectioner's sugar
- Sweetens and thickens the mixture until it sets into a moldable dough.
The step that matters
Stirring in the sugar to a moldable dough. The sugar stiffens the cream and egg white mixture. Too little leaves the dough sticky and hard to shape, while too much makes it dry and crumbly. Stop once it holds its shape.
“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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