Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Make Icing for Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat until the mixture is thick and glossy.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 whites
- Whip into a foam that traps air and gives the icing its light, stable structure.
- White sugar
- Dissolves into the foam to add sweetness and stiffen it into a thick, glossy texture.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar gradually while beating. Adding sugar slowly lets it dissolve into the whipped whites. Dumping it in at once can deflate the foam and leave a grainy, weepy icing.
“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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