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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake with alternating swirls of batter made from sugar, butter, milk, flour, eggs, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.

Make the light batter

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together 1 ½ cups sugar and ½ cup butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add ½ cup sweet milk and mix well.

  4. Stir in 2 teaspoons baking powder and 2 ½ cups flour.

  5. Fold in the 4 egg whites until just combined.

Make the dark batter

  1. In another bowl, mix 1 cup brown sugar, ½ cup molasses, and ½ cup butter.

  2. Add ½ cup sour milk, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar.

  3. Stir in 2 ½ cups flour and the 4 egg yolks.

Marble and bake

  1. Combine both mixtures by alternating spoonfuls in a greased cake pan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 tender, fine crumb.
Egg whites
Whipped into the light batter to add lift and a light, airy structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and moisture to the dark batter and help bind it.
Molasses
Colors the dark batter and adds depth of sweetness and moisture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the light batter, helping the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it sets.

The step that matters

Swirl the batter gently with a knife. Over-swirling mixes the light and dark batters into an even brown color, losing the marble pattern. A few gentle passes keep the two batters distinct while still blending them enough to bake evenly.

“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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