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Dessert

Marble Cake

A sweet cake with light and dark layers made from sugar, butter, lard, milk, egg whites, baking powder, flour, vanilla, chocolate, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, rub together the butter and sugar until well combined.

  2. Add the egg whites and mix thoroughly.

  3. Stir in the sweet milk.

  4. Sift the baking powder with the flour and mix it into the batter.

  5. Take out one-third of the mixture for the dark part.

  6. Melt the chocolate and mix it with a few spices, then add it to the dark part of the batter.

Bake

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

  2. Layer the light and dark batters in a prepared baking pan.

  3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center 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 + chocolatetop 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

Egg whites
Add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
Chocolate
Gives the dark portion its color and chocolate flavor.
Flour
Provides structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while adding tenderness.

The step that matters

Layering the light and dark batters. Pouring the two batters in loosely, without spreading them, keeps the marbling distinct. Heavy stirring after layering blends the colors into an even brown and loses the pattern.

“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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