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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake with alternating white and dark batter, baked until done.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Marble Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batters

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. In another bowl, cream together the powdered sugar and butter.

  4. Mix in the sour cream, flour, baking soda, and baking powder until smooth.

  5. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks, brown sugar, molasses, butter, sour cream, flour, baking soda, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves.

Bake

  1. Layer the white batter and dark batter in a large cake pan, starting with the white.

  2. Bake for 1.5 hours 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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs
Whites whipped to stiff peaks trap air, and yolks enrich the batter and add structure.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the crumb.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and acidity, keeping the cake tender.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark color of the darker batter.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stiff peaks hold air that lifts the cake. Underbeaten whites give a dense crumb, while overbeaten whites turn dry and grainy.

Swap the allspice

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, cream, flour, molasses, cinnamon. 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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