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Dessert

Black and White Marble Cake

A cake made with alternating egg white and yolk batters, flavored with spices and citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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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 ↓

Black and White 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.

Prepare the batters

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

  2. Beat the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form.

  3. Cream the butter and white sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy.

  4. Add the sour cream, flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda to the butter mixture and mix well.

  5. Combine the egg yolks, brown sugar, molasses, sour cream, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice in a separate bowl.

Marble and bake

  1. Alternate the two batters in a prepared cake pan to create a marbled effect.

  2. Fold in the sliced citron.

  3. Bake for about 30–40 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the cake a light, airy structure.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and a tender crumb.
White sugar
Creamed with butter for lift and fine texture, and adds sweetness.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and acidity, which keeps the crumb tender.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep sweetness and color to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Alternating the two batters. Spooning the batters in loose layers keeps the light and dark colors distinct. Overmixing them together blends the marbling into an even, muddy color and deflates the whipped egg whites, so the cake loses its airy lift.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, cream, flour, 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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