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Dessert

Marble Cake

A cake made by layering and swirling white and black batters to create a marbled appearance.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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. 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. In a bowl, cream together the white sugar and ½ cup butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the sweet milk, 2 cups flour, and 2 teaspoons baking powder, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, molasses, ½ cup butter, and sour milk.

  5. Stir in the yolks of 4 eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, spices, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 2½ cups flour.

  6. Fold the egg whites into the white batter.

Marble and bake

  1. Layer the white and black batters in a greased cake pan.

  2. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.

  3. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the batter hold air when creamed with sugar.
Eggs
Provide structure and richness; the whites add lift and the yolks add moisture and colour.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once mixed with the liquids and leavening.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the dark batter and adds moisture and a deeper flavour.
Molasses
Adds dark colour, moisture and a robust, slightly acidic flavour to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Folding the egg whites into the white batter. Whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam and produces a dense cake, so fold gently until just combined.

“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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