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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made by alternating light and dark batters of sugar, butter, milk, eggs, flour, molasses, allspice, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,331 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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 the batters

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together 1 cup white sugar and ½ cup softened butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add ½ cup milk, 3 egg whites, and 1½ teaspoons baking powder; mix well.

  4. Gradually stir in 2 cups flour until combined.

  5. In another bowl, cream together ½ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup softened butter.

  6. Mix in ½ cup molasses, 3 egg yolks, ¼ cup milk, 1 teaspoon allspice, and ½ grated nutmeg.

  7. Add 2 cups flour to the dark mixture and mix until smooth.

Marble and bake

  1. Spoon the light and dark batters alternately into a greased cake pan.

  2. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.

  3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 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. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 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

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
Egg whites
Add structure and lift as they set in the oven.
Egg yolks
Add richness and tenderness to the dark batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and deep sweetness to the dark batter.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.

The step that matters

Swirling the batters. Over-swirling blends the light and dark batters into an even color, losing the marble pattern. Only a few gentle passes with a knife keep the two batters distinct while still spreading them through the pan.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

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