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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made by swirling white and black batters together.

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.

  3. Mix in ½ cup of sour cream or buttermilk, 3½ cups of flour, 7 egg whites, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda until well combined.

  4. In another bowl, combine 2 cups of brown sugar, 1 cup of butter, and 1 cup of molasses.

  5. Add 5 cups of flour, ½ cup of sour cream or buttermilk, 7 egg yolks, 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 mixture.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer the white batter in a greased cake pan.

  2. Layer the black batter on top and swirl gently with a knife.

  3. Bake for about 1 hour 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake crumb together as it bakes.
Egg whites
Add lift and a light, airy structure to the pale batter.
Egg yolks
Add richness and tenderness to the dark batter.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Molasses
Gives the dark batter its color, moisture and deep sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream or buttermilk to help the cake rise.

The step that matters

Layering and swirling the two batters. Swirling too much mixes the light and dark batters into an even color, losing the marble pattern. Gentle strokes with a knife keep the two batters distinct while the cake bakes.

“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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