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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake with alternating light and dark batters, flavored with molasses, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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, cream together the white sugar and ½ cup butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the milk and egg whites, mixing well.

  4. Stir in 1½ teaspoons baking powder and 2 cups flour until combined.

  5. In another bowl, mix the brown sugar, ¼ cup butter, molasses, and ¼ cup milk.

  6. Add the grated nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and 1½ teaspoons baking powder, then mix in the 2 cups flour and egg yolks.

Marble and bake

  1. Butter the cake mold and alternate spoonfuls of the light and dark batter.

  2. Swirl the batters together gently with a knife.

  3. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide structure and richness, helping the batter set and hold its crumb as it bakes.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as the batter sets.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and a rich, soft texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise and become light.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness and the dark color that contrasts with the light batter.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deeper flavor to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Swirl the batters together gently with a knife.. Light and dark batters differ in color and density. Over-swirling blends them into one uniform color and loses the marbled pattern, so only a few gentle passes are needed.

“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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