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 ↓
White Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Combine sugar, hot water, and cream of tartar in a smooth granite saucepan.
Stir the mixture, then heat gradually to boiling point.
Boil without stirring until it reaches soft ball stage (238°F or 114°C).
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 + 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
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the syrup that sets into smooth, sweet fondant.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that helps prevent large sugar crystals from forming, keeping the fondant smooth.
The step that matters
Boil without stirring. Stirring a boiling sugar syrup can knock loose sugar crystals into it, which then seed further crystallization and leave the fondant grainy. Letting it boil undisturbed keeps the syrup clear and smooth, and the cream of tartar helps guard against crystals.
“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.
More fondant recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.