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Dessert

Marshmallow Frosting

A sweet frosting made by boiling sugar and milk, then folding in melted marshmallows and water, finished with vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Make the two mixtures

  1. Boil the sugar and milk without stirring for about 6 minutes until the syrup threads.

  2. In a separate bowl, cook and stir the marshmallows and water over boiling water until smooth.

Combine and flavor

  1. Combine the two mixtures and beat until stiff enough to spread, then flavor with vanilla extract.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Granulated sugar
Cooks into a syrup that sets as it cools, giving the frosting body and sweetness.
Milk
Adds moisture and a creamy texture to the syrup.
Marshmallows
Add sweetness and a soft, smooth body that helps the frosting hold its shape.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar and milk without stirring. The syrup must reach the threading stage to set properly when beaten. Stirring while it boils can encourage sugar crystals to form, which leaves the frosting grainy.

“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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