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 ↓
French Fondant
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until it begins to boil.
Remove the spoon and use a brush dipped in cold water to wash down the sides of the pan to prevent sugar crystals from forming.
Cover and boil for five minutes.
Add cream of tartar and continue cooking until it reaches the soft ball stage (238°F or 114°C).
Work the fondant
Pour the mixture onto a marble slab dampened with water and let it stand until a dent can be made on the surface.
Work the candy back and forth with a wooden spatula until it becomes a white, smooth, creamy paste.
Knead the fondant with your hands, then place it in an earthen bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let it sit in a cool place for 24 hours.
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
- Forms the sweet syrup base that crystallizes into the smooth fondant texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the syrup, helping prevent crystallization for a smooth, creamy texture.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be cooked into a syrup.
The step that matters
Washing down the pan sides. Sugar crystals on the pan walls can fall into the syrup and trigger graining, so brushing them away with cold water keeps the fondant smooth.
“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.
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.