Pretty in Marble

I don’t have a Magazine Mondays post for you this week but I do have another example of what a great cookbook Maxine Clark’s Chocolate: Deliciously Indulgent Recipes for Chocolate Lovers is.

This time it’s a pretty chocolate marble cake.

Some cakes look pretty in pink. But some look even prettier in marble.

I never tire of trying out marble cake recipes just for the simple of pleasure of marbling batter, yet another example of how artistic and fun baking can be.

I wish all of you a wonderful, chocolate-filled week!

Ciao!

Marbled Butter Cake
Adapted from Chocolate: Deliciously Indulgent Recipes for Chocolate Lovers by Maxine Clark.

Note: This recipe doesn’t yield a huge cake but can easily serve 8. It’s very buttery and will keep nicely at room temperature either in an airtight container or well-wrapped.

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
icing sugar for decoration

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a standard-sized bundt cake pan or kugelhopf mold (if you have one).

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the beaten egg and continue to mix until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the sifted ingredients to the batter and mix on low speed until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Remove half the batter and place in another bowl. To the batter that’s still in the mixer bowl, add the cocoa powder. Mix until well combined.

Take your prepared cake pan and dollop spoonfuls of the vanilla batter into the bottom of the pan. Then take the chocolate batter and dollop spoonfuls over the vanilla batter. Repeat until all the batter has been used.

Take a knife and dip it into the batter, all the way to the bottom of the pan. Gently begin swirling the batter with the knife, working your way all around the pan.

Bake the cake on the middle rack for 50 minutes, checking to see if it’s done with a cake tester or toothpick. If it’s done, the tester will come out clean after piercing the cake. The cake will also spring back if you touch it lightly. If it’s not done, bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Let the cake cool in the pan before unmolding it. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Enjoy!