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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made with alternating white and dark batters, baked until done.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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

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

Make the batters

  1. In a bowl, cream together ½ cup butter, 1 cup white sugar, and ½ cup sweet milk.

  2. Add 4 egg whites, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 cups flour, and 1 teaspoon lemon extract. Mix well.

  3. In another bowl, combine 4 egg yolks, 1 cup sugar, ½ cup molasses, ½ cup butter, and ½ cup sweet milk.

  4. Stir in 2 cups flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, and ½ nutmeg.

Bake

  1. In a greased pan, layer the white and dark batter alternately.

  2. 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. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 the cake a tender crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Egg whites
Trap air and help the light batter rise and set into a fine texture.
Egg yolks
Add richness and emulsify the dark batter for a smooth, tender crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, making the cake rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Layering the white and dark batter alternately. Pouring the batters in uneven or large blobs makes the marbling patchy or muddy. Thin, alternating layers keep the two colours distinct, and the batters should be used soon after mixing so the baking powder still has lift.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour, molasses, cinnamon. 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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