Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add the cream, cream of tartar, and baking soda, mixing well.
Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Marble and bake
Pour alternating layers of light and dark batter into a greased cake pan.
Use a knife to swirl the batter 2 or 3 times.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness, and traps air when creamed with sugar.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and, being acidic, reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Adds acidity that helps stabilize the whipped egg whites and supports rising with baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream and cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
The step that matters
Fold the egg whites gently into the batter. Whipped egg whites trap air that helps the cake rise. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leaving a denser, flatter 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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