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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made by alternating white and dark batters for a marbled appearance.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the batters

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. In another bowl, cream together the white sugar and butter.

  4. Add the sweet milk, baking powder, vanilla or lemon extract, and flour to the creamed mixture, mixing well.

  5. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, brown sugar, cooking molasses, butter, sour milk, ground cloves, cinnamon, mace, grated nutmeg, and baking soda dissolved in a little milk.

  6. Stir in the flour until well combined.

Marble and bake

  1. In a well-buttered cake dish, drop spoonfuls of the white batter and then the dark batter alternately.

  2. Continue until all the batter is used, ensuring a marbled effect.

  3. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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. Vanilla + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Eggs
Whites beaten to stiff peaks give the light batter lift and an airy crumb; yolks add richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the heat, helping the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk and molasses to help the dark batter rise and darken the crumb.
Cooking molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Alternating the white and dark batter. Spooning the batters in turn, rather than mixing them, keeps two distinct colours. Stirring too much blends them into a uniform brown and loses the marble pattern.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, flour, molasses):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, flour, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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