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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made from two batters, one light and one dark, baked in a loaf pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Marble Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the light batter

  1. Cream the butter, then add the sugar and cream until very light.

  2. Sift the flour with the baking powder several times; stir a little into the butter and sugar.

  3. Alternate adding the milk and flour until fully combined, then add the almond extract and beaten egg whites.

  4. Beat the mixture for ten minutes before transferring to a buttered loaf pan.

Make the dark batter

  1. For the dark part, cream the butter and sugar, then add the beaten egg yolks and beat until very light.

  2. Add the coffee, alternating with the sifted flour and spices.

  3. Add the flavoring and beat for ten minutes.

Bake and rest

  1. Layer the batters in the loaf pan in alternate spoonfuls.

  2. Bake at 300°F (150°C) until done, then leave in the pan for fifteen minutes before cooling on a rack.

  3. Do not cut for 24 hours; icing improves the flavor.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  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
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped into the batter to add lift and a light, open structure.
Egg yolks
Enrich the dark batter with fat and help it set into a tender crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise.
Strong coffee
Darkens the dark batter and adds a deep, roasted flavor.

The step that matters

Layering the batters in the pan. Spooning the light and dark batters in alternate layers creates the marbled pattern. Overmixing them together after layering blends the colors into an even brown, so the layers should be left distinct.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Hazelnutfits about as well
  3. Cocoafits about as well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, coffee, vanilla. 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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