Marble Cake Tested Recipe

Marble Cake Recipe

A Marble Pound Cake is a wonderfully rich and buttery cake that gives you two cakes in one (a chocolate cake and a white cake). The marbling effect is created by placing white and chocolate cake batters, alternately in a bundt pan, and then running a knife (do not stir) through the two batters. Marble cakes may look complicated, but they actually start with a basic pound cake batter. Once the batter is made it is divided in half and then melted semisweet chocolate is added to one half. I usually serve this cake plain, with just a dusting of powdered sugar, but you can frost it with your favorite chocolate icing or else this Chocolate Glaze, or a Chocolate Ganache or even this Chocolate Confectioners' Frosting..

This cake is baked in a bundt pan, which is a fancy tube pan created by an American, H. David Dalquist, back in 1950. The story goes that a group of Minneapolis Jewish women from a local Hadassah wanted a better pan for baking their bundkuchen. They went to Dalquist's company, Northland Aluminum Products, with their problem and he created a ring shaped tube pan with fluted sides made from cast aluminum. He named the pan "bundt" (by adding the letter 't' to the word "bund" which is German for "gathering") and while sales of this pan were a little slow at first, they skyrocketed once Ella Helfrich from Texas, used the pan for her Tunnel of Fudge Cake that won the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off contest. The beauty of this pan is that the inner tube conducts the heat into the center of the batter so it cooks evenly, which is especially good for heavy cake batters. It is important to prepare the pan properly so the cake does not stick to the pan. Before pouring in the batter, butter all the creases and folds of the fluted sides, or better yet, use a nonstick bundt pan. Also, if you are using a dark colored bundt pan, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Dark colored pans absorb more of the energy coming from the oven walls so the pan becomes hotter and transmits heat faster than light colored pans. Reducing the oven temperature slightly will help compensate for this.


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Marble Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick spray, a 10 inch (25 cm) bundt or tube pan.

In a stainless steel bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the semisweet chocolate with the coffee. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and sour cream.

With the mixer on low speed alternately add the flour mixture and the milk to the batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

After preparing the batter, pour half of the batter into a separate bowl. Stir the melted chocolate into one half of the batter, mixing well. Place the batter into the prepared pan by alternating spoons of vanilla batter and chocolate batter. Then, with the end of a wooden spoon, gently draw swirls through the batter to marbleize it. Don't over mix or you won't have that wonderful marble affect.

Bake for about 45 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature. This cake will keep for a couple of days at room temperature or it can be frozen.

References:

Anderson, Jean. The American Century Cookbook. Clarkson Potter/Publishers. New York: 1997.

Purdy, Susan G. A Piece of Cake. Collier Books. New York: 1989.

Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press. New York: 2007.

Tyler Herbst, Sharon & Herbst, Ron. The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion. Barron's Educational Services, Inc. New York: 2009.

Wolf, Burt & Aronson, Emily & Fabricant, Florence. The New Cooks' Catalogue. Alfred A. Knopf. New York: 2000.

Yard, Sherry. 'The Secrets of Baking'. Houghton Mifflin Company. New York: 2003.