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Dessert

Marble Chocolate Cake

A two-layered chocolate cake with alternating light and dark batters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 Chocolate 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.

Make the batters

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter for the light part.

  3. Add 3 egg whites, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and about 2 cups flour. Mix well.

  4. In another bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter for the dark part.

  5. Add 3 egg yolks, 1 cup milk, ¾ cup grated chocolate, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and about 2 cups flour. Mix well and flavor with vanilla.

Marble and bake

  1. In a round deep pan, alternate spoonfuls of the light and dark batter.

  2. 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. Chocolate + vanillatop 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

Butter
Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Egg whites
Whip-free structure from the light batter, helping the cake set and rise.
Egg yolks
Add richness and fat to the dark batter, softening the crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Grated chocolate
Adds chocolate flavor and color to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Alternating the light and dark batters. Spooning the two batters in loose layers, rather than stirring them, creates the marbled pattern. Overmixing blends them into an even brown cake, and the batters should be spooned, not poured, to keep the swirl distinct.

“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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