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.
Prepare the batters
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the white sugar and ½ cup butter. Add the sweet milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Combine the flour and baking powder, then add to the creamed mixture. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites and ½ cup of flour.
For the dark part, mix brown sugar, ½ cup molasses, sour milk, and baking soda.
Rub the remaining ½ cup butter with the sugar, then add the egg yolks. Mix in the spices and combine with the dark mixture.
Bake
Layer the white and dark batters in a greased cake pan to create a marble effect.
Bake for 30-40 minutes 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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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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lift and an airy, light texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and tenderness to the crumb and help bind the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking to raise the cake.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep color and a robust flavor to the dark batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stirring too hard deflates the whipped foam that gives the cake its lift, leaving a dense crumb. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cream, molasses):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, cream, molasses. 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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