a whimsical chocolate marble cake

for whimsical weekend baking

What I’m reading: the new issue of Eaten, which I received by post this week (below)

What I’m listening to: Joanne McNally on Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster

What I’m eating: burgers at the newly-opened London branch of Dumbo (Paris) in Shoreditch (below)

This is a good recipe if you’re looking for something whimsical (and easy) to make. I used to make these when I was little, and I still get just as much joy from the process of marbling the chocolate and vanilla cake mixtures together. You could (and I think I will) play around with the flavours for this kind of cake - the most important thing is that both are a similar texture and have the same amount of raising agent - otherwise, you’ll end up with a really funny looking cake (whimsical in a bad way).

My preferred way to make this is to make the base of the cake (creamed butter and sugar, eggs), and then divide it into two and fold in the dry ingredients, followed by yogurt. The yogurt could also be buttermilk - I am a strong advocate for an acidic dairy element in my bakes, as it reacts with the baking soda to provide a more even rise. For the chocolate part, I’ve added cocoa powder and you’ll notice that there is a slightly lower proportion of dry ingredients for this half of the cake mixture as cocoa is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs more liquid - so you need less of it.

The glaze is just a little ganache with a 1:1 ratio which should be the perfect consistency to coat the cake. It does depend on the fat content of your chocolate and cream though, so play around with it if you need to. It’s also important to let the ganache come back to around room temperature before pouring over the cake, so that it solidifies as it pours, and doesn’t just run straight off. I like doing this on a wire rack over a tray, so that the chocolate doesn’t pool at the bottom of the cake - and you don’t make a mess on your counter.

I hope you have a whimsical weekend x

recipe: chocolate marble cake