Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 egg whites until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, cream together the white sugar and 1 cup of butter until light and fluffy. Add the sour milk, 4 cups of flour, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the butter mixture. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix with the brown sugar and 1 cup of butter until smooth. Add the sour milk, 4 cups of flour, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the yolk mixture. Mix well.
Marble and bake
In a greased cake pan, alternate spoonfuls of the white and dark batter to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 1 hour and 15 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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Cinnamon + clovetop 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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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Whites whipped to stiff peaks add lift; yolks enrich the dark batter and add richness.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor in both batters.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise and stay tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that leavens the batter.
- Brown sugar
- Adds moisture and molasses flavor to the dark batter and deepens its color.
The step that matters
Alternating the white and dark batter in the pan. Spooning the batters in loosely keeps them as distinct layers, which creates the marbled look. Heavy stirring after this blends them into one color and loses the pattern.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cinnamon, allspice):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cinnamon, allspice. 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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