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Dessert

Maple Sugar Frosting

A frosting made from maple sugar, boiling water, egg whites, and thin cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Maple Sugar Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Boil 2 cups of maple sugar with ½ cup of boiling water until it reaches the soft ball stage.

  2. Pour the hot mixture into the stiffly beaten whites of 2 eggs, beating constantly.

  3. Cook for 2‑3 minutes while continuing to beat carefully.

  4. Remove from heat and beat occasionally until cold and thick enough to spread.

Alternative method

  1. Alternatively, stir 1 cup of thin cream with 2 cups of shaved maple sugar over heat until it reaches the soft ball stage.

  2. Do not stir, then set the mixture in cold water and beat until thick.

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.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream 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

Maple sugar
Provides the sweetness and body of the frosting, and sets firm as it cools.
Egg whites
Whip into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
Thin cream
Adds fat and moisture for a smooth, creamy texture in the alternative method.

The step that matters

Beating the hot syrup into the egg whites. Pouring the syrup in slowly while beating constantly keeps the cooked sugar from seizing or deflating the foam, so the frosting stays smooth and light.

“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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