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Dessert

Tutti-frutti Frosting

A sweet frosting made with boiled sugar syrup, beaten egg whites, and chopped almonds, raisins, and sliced citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Tutti-frutti Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the frosting

  1. Boil water and sugar in a saucepan until very thick and waxy.

  2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Pour the syrup over the egg whites while beating until cool.

Add the mix-ins

  1. Fold in the chopped almonds, raisins, and sliced citron.

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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

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

  5. Egg + raisintop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,556 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that gives the frosting its light, airy structure.
Sugar
Boiled into a thick syrup that sweetens and gives the frosting body.
Almonds
Add crunchy texture and nutty flavor throughout the frosting.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.

The step that matters

Pouring the syrup over the egg whites while beating. The hot syrup partly cooks and stabilizes the whipped whites. Pouring it slowly in a steady stream while beating keeps the foam from collapsing and prevents lumps of cooked egg.

“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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