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Dessert

Marshmallow Cake

A layered cake with butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, milk, egg whites, and a marshmallow paste topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Marshmallow Cake

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Marshmallow Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cake batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and 1½ cups sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the egg whites and mix until well combined.

  4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.

  5. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, until smooth.

Bake and make the marshmallow paste

  1. Divide the batter into layers and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the marshmallow paste, boil ¾ cup sugar and ¼ cup milk together for 6 minutes.

  3. Melt the marshmallows with 2 tablespoons hot water, then combine with the sugar and milk mixture.

  4. Add ½ teaspoon vanilla and beat until stiff enough to spread.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
Egg whites
Add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
Marshmallows
Melt into the paste, adding sweetness and a soft, spreadable texture.

The step that matters

Beat the marshmallow paste until stiff enough to spread. Beating incorporates air and lets the cooked sugar mixture thicken as it cools, so under-beating leaves a runny paste that will not hold on the cake.

Swap the vanilla

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

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Coconutfits less well

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