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Dessert

Marble Pudding

A steamed pudding with a marbled chocolate and vanilla batter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Marble Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

  2. In a bowl, combine the yolks, sugar, melted butter, and cold water.

  3. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

  4. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  5. Divide the mixture into two parts; add melted chocolate to one part.

Marble and steam

  1. In a buttered pan, alternate the two mixtures to create a marbled appearance.

  2. Steam for 45 minutes.

  3. Serve with vanilla sauce.

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 + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Cinnamon + chocolatetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar 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

Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the pudding together as it sets.
Egg whites
Beaten to foam, they lighten the batter and help it rise and set with a tender texture.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the batter while adding color and flavor.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, helping the pudding rise and become light.
Melted chocolate
Adds flavor and the dark contrast that creates the marbled pattern.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a moist, tender crumb.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air bubbles that give lightness. Stirring them vigorously knocks the air out, leaving a dense pudding instead of a light one.

“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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