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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake with swirled white and dark batters, flavored with spices and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

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

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

Make the batters

  1. In a bowl, cream together ¾ cup butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the egg whites and milk, mixing well.

  3. In another bowl, combine 4 cups flour and 3 teaspoons baking powder.

  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth.

  5. In a separate bowl, mix ½ cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup molasses, and ½ cup sour milk.

  6. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda and spices to the dark mixture, stirring well.

Bake

  1. Layer the white and dark batters in a greased cake pan, swirling them together.

  2. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 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 + 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
Egg whites trap air and set into the cake's structure as it bakes.
Butter
Fat that tenderises the crumb and adds richness to the cake.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its starch sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk and molasses to lift the dark batter.
Molasses
Adds dark colour, moisture and deep sweetness to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Swirling the two batters. Swirl the batters only once or twice. Over-stirring blends the pale and dark batters into an even colour and knocks out the air, so the marble pattern and rise are lost.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk, 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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