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Dessert

Marble Cake

A two-layered cake with alternating white and dark batter, flavored with lemon, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,950 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Make the white batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, beat the whites of the eggs until stiff peaks form.

  3. Gradually add the white sugar and softened butter, mixing well.

  4. Stir in the sweet milk and lemon juice and zest.

Make the dark batter

  1. In another bowl, combine the yolks of the eggs, whole egg, brown sugar, molasses, and softened butter.

  2. Mix in the flour, baking powder, sweet milk, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until smooth.

Bake

  1. Grease two loaf pans.

  2. Pour alternate layers of the dark and white batter into the pans, starting and ending with the dark batter.

  3. 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. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs
Whites are beaten to add lift and airy structure; yolks enrich the crumb and add tenderness.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor in both batters.
All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets the crumb as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to make the cake rise and become light.
Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness to the dark batter.
Brown sugar
Adds moisture and molasses-like flavor, and helps keep the crumb soft.

The step that matters

Layering the dark and white batter. Pouring the two batters in alternating layers, starting and ending with dark, keeps the batters from blending into one color. Gentle pouring preserves the air beaten into the egg whites, which helps the cake stay light.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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