Marble Cake

Recipe No: 76
This is one of my favorite cakes and the best Marble cake that I ever ate is from the Ann’s Bakery back in Kerala. (The one that I mentioned in one of my older posts about Chicken Sandwich) That was moist, perfectly sweet, served plain without icing and above all it had a perfect balance between the Chocolate and Vanilla.  In most of the other cases the Chocolate will be so overpowering with Vanilla falling short. This is my take on Marble cake… well I should admit that this is the result of my effort to imitate Marble Cake from Ann's.

Ingredients                                Makes two 8 inch cakes

• All purpose flour/ Maida……2 ¼ Cups
• Baking powder…………………2 Teaspoons
• Salt…………………………………1/4 Teaspoon
• Unsalted butter………………..1/2 Cup (1 Stick)
• Vegetable Oil……………………1/4 Cup
• Sugar……………………………...1 ¾ Cups
• Large Eggs……………………….2 (At room temperature)
• Vanilla extract………………….2 Teaspoons
• Milk or Heavy cream…….…..1 Cup
• Hot water……………………..…3 Tablespoons
• Chocolate Powder…………….2 Tablespoons
• Instant Coffee Powder………1/2 Teaspoon

Method of Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C.
2. Butter and Flour (Or use cooking spray) two 8 inch pans.
3. Swift Flour, Baking powder and Salt together and keep aside.
4. Dissolve Chocolate Powder and instant Coffee Powder in hot water and keep aside to cool.
5. Mix together Butter, Oil and Sugar till creamy.
6. Add Eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add Vanilla essence too. Do scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl as there are chances of butter sticking to the bottom without mixing.
7. Add Flour and Milk alternating with each other, starting and ending with flour.
8. Once everything is mixed well remove 3/4th of a cup of batter to another bowl and mix in the Chocolate mixture.
9. To the prepared pans add a large scoop of Vanilla batter followed by a drizzle of Chocolate mixture. Continue this is both pans till all the batter is used.
10. Shake the pans to make the batter even. Insert a butter knife into the batter and holding straight up make swirling movements. This will give the marbling effect to the Cake.
11. Bake in the center of the oven till it is just done. This will take approximately 30 minutes. Take care not to over bake.
12. Let the cakes cool in the pan itself before taking it out.
13. Serve at room temperature. Don’t refrigerate.

Notes:

• Use a good quality Chocolate powder. That will make a whole world of difference. If you can get Dutch processed Cocoa then that will be great. If you don’t have good Cocoa Powder then use Semisweet Chocolate chips. Melt together 2 once of Semisweet Chocolate Chips with ½ Teaspoon of Instant Coffee Powder and a Tablespoon of water on a double boiler.
• To prepare a cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and then spread a thin layer of butter and sprinkle some flour. If there is excess flour dust it away.
• Once the flour is added don’t over mix.  If you do, that will develop the Gluten in the flour which will make the cake tough.
• By any chance if you are using salted butter, then avoid using extra salt.

Make it, enjoy the deliciousness and
serve it to your family with love...