Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. 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.
Prepare the batters
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the whites of 7 eggs until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, cream together 1 cup of softened butter and 3 cups of white sugar. Add 1 cup of water and mix well.
Gradually add 2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the mixture.
In a separate bowl, beat the yolks of 7 eggs and mix with 1 cup of softened butter and 2 cups of brown sugar. Add 1 cup of water, then mix in 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and the spices.
Bake
Layer the white and brown batter in a greased cake pan.
Swirl the batters together gently with a knife.
Bake for 1.5 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Eggs
- Whites are beaten to stiff peaks to lighten the batter and give the cake an airy structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the light batter and helps it brown and stay moist.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the cake rise and become light.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a deeper flavour to the dark batter.
The step that matters
Swirling the batters. Swirling too much blends the two batters into a uniform color and loses the marble pattern. Use only a few gentle passes with a knife so the light and dark batters stay in distinct ribbons.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour, allspice, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovethe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour, allspice, cinnamon. 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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