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Dessert

Marbled 'chocolate Cake

A chocolate marbled cake made with butter, sugar, sweet milk, flour, baking powder, egg whites, grated chocolate, milk, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Marbled 'chocolate Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add sweet milk and mix well.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder, then add to the butter mixture.

  5. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.

Marble and bake

  1. Take 1 cup of the batter and mix in grated chocolate, wetting it with milk and adding vanilla.

  2. In a greased cake pan, pour a layer of the white batter.

  3. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter onto the white batter in spots.

  4. Top with the remaining white batter and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Finish

  1. Once cooled, frost with chocolate icing.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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
Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb and flavor.
Sugar
Creams with butter to hold air and adds sweetness and browning.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Eggs
Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks add lift and an airy texture.
Grated chocolate
Provides the dark marbling and rich chocolate flavor in the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiff egg whites. Whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air that makes the cake light. Stirring them in vigorously or too long deflates that foam, leaving a dense cake.

“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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