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Dessert

Marble Chocolate Cake

A layered cake with alternating white and chocolate batter, baked until done.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Marble Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the baking powder, milk, egg whites, and flour; mix until smooth.

  4. Take 1 cup of the batter and mix in the grated chocolate and a splash of vanilla.

Layer and bake

  1. In a greased pan, pour a layer of the white batter.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter in spots over the white batter.

  3. Pour the remaining white batter over the top.

  4. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Finish

  1. Once cooled, cover with chocolate frosting.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving a tender crumb and flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy creamed base.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Egg whites
Add structure and lift to the batter as it sets in the oven.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavour and the dark swirls that form the marbled pattern.

The step that matters

Layering the batters. Pouring or dropping the chocolate batter too heavily or stirring it through the white batter blends the two colours, losing the marble effect. Light, spaced spoonfuls keep the swirls distinct.

“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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