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Dessert

Marble Cake

A layered cake with light and chocolate batter, baked until done.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. 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.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter in a mixing bowl.

  2. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

  3. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks in a separate bowl.

  4. Add the beaten yolks to the butter and sugar mixture and beat again.

  5. Stir in the milk and sift in the flour, mixing well.

  6. Add the vanilla extract, then gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites and baking powder.

Marble and bake

  1. Divide the batter in half; mix melted chocolate into one half.

  2. In a greased pan, alternate spoonfuls of the light and dark batter.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 45 to 60 minutes.

Finish

  1. Ice with boiled chocolate icing if desired.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Flour
Forms the cake's structure once its proteins set during baking.
Eggs
Add structure, richness and moisture, and help the cake hold its rise.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, traps air for a lighter texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, making the batter rise and become light.
Grated chocolate
Provides the dark swirls and a deep chocolate flavour in one half of the batter.

The step that matters

Gently fold in the egg whites. Stiffly beaten egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a dense, flat cake, so fold slowly with a spatula until just combined.

“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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