Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the sweet milk and mix well.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the butter mixture.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Divide the batter in half; flavor one half with lemon or vanilla extract.
Bake
In a greased cake pan, alternate spoonfuls of the two batters to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Beaten to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts and gives the cake its light crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender, fine texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy base.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and helps loosen the batter for even baking.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. The whites hold the air that makes the cake rise. Vigorous stirring deflates them and can toughen the crumb, so fold with a light hand until just combined.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour. 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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