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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made with alternating white and brown batters, flavored with spices and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 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.

Make the batters

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together 1 cup of butter and 2 cups of white sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in ½ cup of sour cream or buttermilk, 3½ cups of flour, and 7 egg whites until well combined.

  3. In another bowl, cream together 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of butter, then stir in 1 cup of molasses, 5 cups of flour, ½ cup of sour cream or buttermilk, and 7 egg yolks.

  4. Add 1 grated nutmeg, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of cloves, 1 tablespoon of allspice, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the brown mixture.

Bake

  1. Layer the white and brown batters in a greased cake pan and swirl gently with a knife.

  2. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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 and adds richness and tender texture.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Egg whites
Add structure and lift to the light batter.
Egg yolks
Add richness, colour and moisture to the dark batter.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream or buttermilk to help the cake rise.

The step that matters

Swirling the batters. Swirling too much blends the light and dark batters into an even colour, losing the marble effect. A gentle, few-pass swirl keeps the two batters distinct while they still bake evenly.

“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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