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 ↓
Marbled 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the sweet milk.
Marble and bake
Take out about 1 cup of the batter and mix in the grated chocolate and 1 tablespoon of milk.
In a greased cake mold, pour in the yellow batter to a depth of about 1 inch.
Drop spoonfuls of the dark chocolate mixture onto the yellow batter in two or three places.
Use a knife to swirl the dark batter into the yellow batter for a marbled effect.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Creaming with sugar traps air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Provide structure as they set and add richness and moisture to the crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's main structure once baked, setting the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to lift the batter and stabilize it.
- Grated chocolate
- Adds deep chocolate flavor and the dark contrast that creates the marbled pattern.
The step that matters
Swirling the dark batter. Swirling too much blends the chocolate batter fully into the yellow, losing the marbled pattern. Use only a few gentle knife passes so the streaks stay distinct.
“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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