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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made by alternating white and brown batter to create a marbled effect.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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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 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the white batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat the whites of 7 eggs until stiff.

  3. In another bowl, cream together 3 cups of white sugar and 1 cup of butter. Add 1 cup of sour milk and mix well.

  4. Gradually add 4 cups of sifted flour and 1 teaspoon of baking soda, mixing until smooth. Flavor to taste and set aside.

Make the dark batter

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the yolks of 7 eggs.

  2. Cream together 3 cups of brown sugar and 1 cup of butter. Add 1 cup of sour milk and mix well.

  3. Gradually add 4 cups of sifted flour, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of allspice, 1 tablespoon of cloves, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda, mixing until smooth.

Marble and bake

  1. In a greased baking pan, alternate layers of the white and dark batter to create a marbled effect.

  2. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 beaten stiff give lift and airy structure; yolks add richness and tenderness to the batter.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender, moist crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
Brown sugar
Adds moisture and a molasses flavor to the dark batter, deepening its color.

The step that matters

Alternating the white and dark batter. Pour in layers rather than mixing them, so the batters stay separate and form distinct swirls. Fully blending them would turn the cake one even color instead of marbled.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cinnamon, allspice):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. 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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