Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. 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.
Make the white batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the whites of 7 eggs until stiff peaks form.
Cream together 3 cups of white sugar and 1 cup of softened butter. Add 1 cup of sour milk and mix well.
Gradually add 4 cups of sifted flour and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the mixture. Flavor to taste.
Set aside.
Make the dark batter
Beat the yolks of 7 eggs.
Cream together 3 cups of brown sugar and 1 cup of softened butter. Add 1 cup of sour milk and mix well.
Gradually add 4 cups of sifted flour, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of allspice, 1 tablespoon of cloves, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Bake
In a greased cake pan, alternate spoonfuls of the white and dark batter.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick 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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites build the light structure and yolks add richness and tenderness to the batter.
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter and tenderize the crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas that makes the cake rise.
- Brown sugar
- Adds moisture and molasses flavor, and helps deepen the color of the dark batter.
The step that matters
Alternating the white and dark batter. Spooning the two batters in loosely, rather than stirring them together, keeps the separate colors that form the marble pattern. Overmixing would blend them into one uniform color.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cinnamon, allspice):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cinnamon, allspice. 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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