Why it works: Corn and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
White Frosting
Ingredients
Directions
Make the frosting
Beat the egg white until frothy.
Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and corn starch.
Add the lemon juice and mix well.
Finish and set
Spread over the cake with a knife dipped in cold water.
Set in a warm, dry place to harden.
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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Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Egg white
- Whipped to foam, it gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
- Powdered sugar
- Dissolves into the egg white to sweeten and thicken the frosting.
- Corn starch
- Stabilizes the frosting so it stays smooth and holds its shape as it sets.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and helps stabilize the egg white foam.
The step that matters
Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and corn starch.. Adding the sugar slowly lets it dissolve into the egg white foam without deflating it. Dumping it in at once can collapse the foam and leave a grainy, runny frosting.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, corn):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, corn. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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