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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake made with alternating light and dark batters of sugar, butter, milk, eggs, flour, spices, and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 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.

Prepare

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

Make the batters

  1. In a bowl, cream together the white sugar and ½ cup of butter.

  2. Add ½ cup of milk and the egg whites, mixing well.

  3. Gradually add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth.

  4. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, ⅓ cup of butter, molasses, and ⅓ cup of milk.

  5. Mix in the nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, and 2 cups of flour.

  6. Incorporate the egg yolks into the dark batter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill a greased pan with alternating spoonfuls of light and dark batter.

  2. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb by coating flour and trapping air when creamed.
Egg whites and egg yolks
Add structure and moisture, and help the batter bind and set in the oven.
Molasses
Gives the dark batter its deep color, moisture and distinct sweet, robust flavor.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it can be mixed smoothly.

The step that matters

Filling the pan with alternating batters. Light and dark batters must be layered in spoonfuls rather than stirred together, or the marbled pattern blurs into an even brown color.

“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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