Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Icing for Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the icing
Beat the egg whites until light.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue beating until well combined.
Ice the cake
Pour the icing over the cake, smoothing it with a knife.
Place the cake in a warm area until the icing hardens.
Apply two coats on the top and one coat on the sides.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 light foam that gives the icing its airy, spreadable structure.
- Powdered white sugar
- Sweetens the icing and stiffens the foam into a smooth, set coating.
The step that matters
Adding the sugar gradually. Egg white foam is stabilised by sugar added slowly while beating. Dumping in the sugar at once can deflate the foam and leave the icing grainy or runny, so it may not harden properly.
“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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