Marble cake made its appearance in the last quarter of the 19th Century when Victorian American women were looking for new ways to impress. Up until that point rather plain square cakes were the order of the day.
Essentially marble cake is a light and a dark cake batter lightly swirled together. In the early incarnations of the cake the dark colour was achieved by the addition of molasses, spices (such as cloves, cinnamon, allspice, mace and nutmeg) or even currants and raisins.
In the early 20th century the chocolate made its appearance as the colour of the dark part, but the spice endured for some time after. These days the most common mixture is chocolate and vanilla, but of course you can put together almost any combination provided the colours are distinct. This recipe is a version that takes inspiration from Nutella, a delicious blend of chocolate and hazelnuts. I have used almond flavouring instead of hazelnut as it far easier to get.
Cake
4 medium eggs
Weigh the eggs and then weigh out the same weight of
Sugar
Butter
Self Raising Flour (remove 1 tbsp of flour after weighing)
1 tsp almond extract
50g cocoa powder.
Milk
A little extra butter and plain flour
Icing
50g butter
100g Nutella
100g icing sugar
Equipment
1 large bowl
1 medium bowl
1 wooden spoon
1 x 8in / 20cm deep round cake tins
Cake rack
Plate larger than 8in / 20cm across
Kitchen scales
Tablespoon
Skewer
Cocktail stick
Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 350°F.
Using the little extra butter grease your baking tin well. Using the extra flour lightly cover the butter. I do this even with non stick pans to guarantee the cakes turn out easily. Some people like to line the cake tin with greaseproof paper, I have never bothered. When I cook this, I use a fluted tin brioche tin (7in /17.5cm diameter), so that when turned out it has a pleasing domed shaped. Note that if you do this you will need to only use a 3 egg mixture and reduce the amount of cocoa slightly.
Make sure your butter for the cake is at room temperature and add to a bowl along with the sugar and beat with a wooden spoon until well mixed and sort of moussey. I confess I use a food processor (beater, not with blades) or hand held electric beater, it is much quicker and easier. I find this step to be essential as the air you beat into here is a major contributor to how light your cake with turn out.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, alternating with a tablespoon of the flour after each one. If using a food processor, leave the motor running and add the eggs as above.
Split the batter in two and mix the almond extract into one bowl of batter and the cocoa powder into the other.
The mixture should have a soft consistency which drops off the spoon. If not, add in a little milk to achieve the right consistency.
Drop alternate tablespoons of the white and the chocolate mixture into the prepared cake tin. When you have finished, gently swirl the batter with a skewer, but note to much or you will not get a marble effects as the cake will be too mixed together.
Bake for 45 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.
Avoid opening the oven before the last minutes of the cooking time or your cake will collapse. At the end of the cooking time check the cake is done by giving it a gentle press, if it bounces back it is done. Some people prefer to use a thin skewer or cocktail stick which should come out clean when inserted into the cake.
Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes which will help it firm up slightly. Turn it out onto a cake rack and leave until completely cool.
This sort of cake does not really need icing. It is delicious, just cut and enjoyed with a cup of tea. For this version as it was a treat for the children, I whipped some Nutella icing. Beat together the butter and the Nutella, then beat in the icing sugar until smooth. Spread over the top of the cake. It is quite a soft icing, but deliciously sticky, so expect to need serviettes when you tuck in.
Enjoy!
Cake Variations
- Substitute vanilla extract for the almond to have a traditional chocolate vanilla.
- Substitute orange extract for the almond to have chocolate orange.
- Substitute peppermint extract for the almond to have chocolate mint.
- Add a teaspoon of cloves, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of allspice to create the dark part of the cake. You can flavour the pale part of the cake with vanilla, but I like to use a teaspoon of lemon extract and the finely chopped zest of a lemon.
- Use 2 tsp of lavender flowers crushed with a little sugar before adding to the pale part of the cake for chocolate lavender cake.
- For something deliciously different and a little gastronomically challenging add 1 finely chopped red chilli or 1 tbsp chilli oil to the pale part for chocolate chilli cake (add more chilli if you are more spicey)
- Try using coffee instead of chocolate by dissolving 1tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water.
- Add 100g melted white chocolate to the pale part and the coffee as the dark part for a “cappuccino” marble cake.
- Equally use the white chocolate part with a raspberry part made by stirring in 100g raspberries and a little red food colouring into the other half.
- White chocolate also team wonderfully with lime. Use the finely shredded zest of 3 limes and 1 tbsp lime juice in the other half with a little green food colouring.
- Of course you can just stick to a flavour you like and colour each of the two half any colours you like and swirl them together.
Naked Lunch 