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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made with alternating white and brown batter swirled together.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 white batter

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the whites of 4 eggs until stiff.

  3. Gradually add 1 cup of white sugar and ½ cup of butter, mixing well.

  4. Stir in ½ cup of sweet milk and 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar.

  5. Fold in 2½ cups of flour gently.

Make the dark batter

  1. In another bowl, mix the yolks of 4 eggs with 1 cup of brown sugar and ½ cup of molasses.

  2. Add ½ cup of butter and ½ cup of sour milk, then mix well.

  3. Stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 2½ cups of flour, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and spices to taste.

Marble and bake

  1. Layer the two mixtures in a greased cake pan and swirl them together.

  2. Bake for about 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

Eggs
Whipped whites give the white batter lift, while yolks add richness and colour to the dark batter.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour in both batters.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep colour and a robust sweetness to the dark batter.
Cream of tartar
Stabilises the whipped egg whites so they hold their volume.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that helps the dark batter rise.

The step that matters

Swirling the two mixtures. Over-swirling blends the light and dark batters into a uniform colour, losing the marbled look. A few gentle turns keep distinct streaks while the batters still set 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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