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Dessert

Maeble Cake

A cake made from separate light and dark batters, with molasses, spice and raisin variations, baked in a slow oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ithaca (N.Y.) First Baptist Church. Ladies Union · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 50 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Maeble Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the white batter

  1. Stir butter and sugar to a cream in earthen dish.

  2. Add milk carefully.

  3. Add extract.

  4. Add flour until smooth.

  5. Add well beaten whites last.

Make the dark batter

  1. Stir butter and sugar to a cream.

  2. Beat yolks until they won't string.

  3. Add yolks to butter and sugar.

  4. Add spices.

  5. Add milk with soda in it.

  6. Stir thoroughly.

  7. Add flour and stir until smooth.

  8. Add floured raisins last.

  9. Bake in slow oven 45 minutes.

Make the molasses cakes

  1. Light: prepare batter from the light ingredients listed.

  2. Dark (second): prepare batter from the listed dark ingredients.

  3. Molasses Cake: dissolve soda in hot water and add to the other ingredients with the flour.

  4. Marian's Molasses Cake: beat all together until smooth.

  5. Marian's Molasses Cake: stir in as much flour as you can until quite stiff.

  6. Marian's Molasses Cake: add heaping teaspoon of saleratus dissolved in boiling water.

  7. Marian's Molasses Cake: beat until light, then bake in shallow pan.

  8. Marian's Molasses Cake: bake in slow oven about half hour.

  9. Molasses Cake (sour milk): prepare with the listed ingredients and 2 scant cups of flour.

  10. Lemon Molasses Cake: combine the listed ingredients, using lemon pulp and rind.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1400Calories
54 gProtein
54 gFat
179 gCarbs

Counts 17 of 18 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 17 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Ithaca (N.Y.) First Baptist Church. Ladies Union. 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. See the original page.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites and yolks add structure and lift to the cake's crumb.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, sweet flavour to the molasses cakes.
Soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the batter as it bakes.

The step that matters

Beat the yolks until they won't string. Beaten yolks trap air and thicken the batter, so the cake rises lighter. Under-beaten yolks leave the batter dense.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, clove, cream, cinnamon, molasses, allspice):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Fennelfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, clove, cream, cinnamon, molasses, allspice. 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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