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Dessert

Chocolate Marble Cake

A chocolate marble cake made with chocolate, butter, sugar, milk, egg whites, vanilla, flour, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Chocolate Marble Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batters

  1. Melt the chocolate and 1 tablespoon of butter in a cup set in boiling water.

  2. In a bowl, cream together ½ cup of softened butter and 1 cup of sugar.

  3. Gradually beat in ½ cup of milk.

  4. Add the beaten egg whites, vanilla extract, and sifted flour mixed with baking powder.

  5. Transfer about one-third of the batter to another bowl.

  6. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the white and brown mixtures into a well-buttered deep cake pan.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes.

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

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

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

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

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

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

Eggs
Egg whites add structure and lift to the crumb as they set in the oven.
All-purpose flour
Flour forms the cake's structure once its proteins set during baking.
Butter
Creamed butter adds richness and a tender texture to the crumb.
Sugar
Sugar sweetens the batter and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
Baking powder
Baking powder releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
Chocolate
Melted chocolate gives the darker swirls their flavour and colour.

The step that matters

Stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Only a light, partial stir leaves distinct white and dark streaks. Overmixing blends the two batters into an even colour and deflates the air beaten into the egg whites, which reduces the rise.

“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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