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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batters
Beat the egg whites in a bowl until stiff peaks form.
Cream together the white sugar and 1 cup of butter in another bowl.
Add the sour milk, 4 cups of flour, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the butter mixture, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, brown sugar, 1 cup of butter, sour milk, 4 cups of flour, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.
Marble and bake
In prepared cake pans, alternate spoonfuls of the white batter 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).
-
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Whites add lift through beaten air, while yolks add richness and help set the crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with baking soda and keeps the crumb tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and a deeper colour to the dark batter.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stiff peaks trap air that gives the cake lift. Under-beaten whites produce a dense cake, while over-beaten whites turn dry and grainy and lose their ability to hold air.
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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