This recipe originates from Germany, where it is called Marmorkuchen.
It’s a relatively modern dessert from the 19th century.
This soft cake is made with two batters: one white and one dark. In ancient times, coffee or molasses were used to give the dark color to one of the two mixtures. Today, however, cocoa is more commonly used.
It had immediate success in northern Europe before it was imported to the United States, where it appeared in the 1871 cookbook “Mrs Porter’s New Southern Cookery book”.
We call the marbled cake two-tone at home. Mom often made it for me for breakfast when I was a child, soaking it in a nice cup of milk.
Marble Cake
- Preparation time: 90 minutes
- Ingredients for 8 people
- Difficulty: Easy recipe
- Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 200 g or 7 oz of all-purpose flour
- 100 g or 4 oz of starch
- 200 g or 1 cup of sugar
- 200 g or 1 cup of butter
- 100 ml or ½ cup of milk
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- For the cocoa batter:
- 25 g or 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 50 ml or 4 tablespoons of milk
- Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Butter a pan.
- In a bowl, whip the butter with the sugar until it becomes a nice and fluffy.
- Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until combined.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients (starch, flour, and baking powder) in two batches, alternating with the milk.
- Whip the egg whites until stiff and add them to the batter with a spatula, stirring gently so as to not dismantle everything.
- Put the cocoa and a little warm milk into a smaller bowl, mix well, and add a third of the batter. Mix for just enough time to avoid lumps.
- Spoon batters into the pan in two layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and cocoa batter. To create marbling, run a table knife through the batters in a swirling motion.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about forty-fifty minutes.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- The butter must be at room temperature to be whipped well.
- It’s better to mix the cocoa well with the slightly warm milk, then add it to the dough in order to work it as little as possible.
- The cooking time is indicative because each oven cooks differently.
