Marble Cake

Cakes are a universal favorite,with age no bar,region no bar, weather no bar. And it is not merely the taste that make cakes appealing, but also the texture and to a large extent, their looks too. Well to begin with Marble cake in particular, the first question arising is why the term “MARBLE”, it is because of its pleasing appearance achieved with a combination of very light vanilla and dark chocolate cake batter blended together resulting in this wonderful marble stone like appearance of dark and light combination in single entity.

Marble cakes may look complicated, but they actually start with a basic cake batter, once the batter is made it is divided in half and then melted semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder is added to one half. And the way the two batters are poured in the baking tray (or borosil bowl depending upon the microwave, oven an individual owns) results in the marblisation of the cake. Generally that happens over a period of practice and some amount of creativity, the more predominant way of judging your skills would be if every individual piece has an equal share of the goodies (that is both vanilla and chocolate cake flavor in it).

This is one such special recipe which I have mastered from time to time as that “wow” rejoinder from shiv which I received for the 1^st time he tasted this delicacy, has encouraged me in exploring it and other such baking eateries J

When asked for this recipe on and on by cousins and friends, and the special appreciation received from shiv’s colleague friends (especially Harmonites ) has made me join the blogging community J

Marble Cake Recipe

Preparation time : 15 mins

Baking time : 18 to 20 mins depending upon the microwave oven used

Ingredients :-

1. 250 grams of all purpose flour (maida)
2. 250 grams of sugar
3. 250 grams of unsalted butter ( easiest is nandini unsalted butter readily available at any store in Bangalore)  Note: 250 grams of butter is the max usage of butter for this measure of cake…the less the butter is used the more healthier the cake turns out to be for diet conscious today’s generation J. The max. amount of usage of butter makes the cake more softer, which may not give the firmness required to the end product.
4. Four eggs
5. Baking powder and baking soda readily available in any supermarket, I prefer usually eagle brand baking powder
6. Cocoa powder   readily available in any supermarket, I prefer usually eagle brand cocoa powder
7. Vanilla essence
8. Four tablespoons milk

Baking Procedure:

1. Sieve the flour, keep aside.
2. Add 1 to 1.5 tea spoon of baking soda and a pinch of caustic soda to the sieved flour.
3. In the blender combine the butter, sugar and eggs and mix it to make a smooth batter. (note: if crystal sugar used make sure it is fully powdered and dissolved properly).
4. Now pour this prepared mix to the flour and start mixing the two entities together. This is the most important phase in cake preparation, so as to how well you mix the two entities. Some prefer electric blender which I had tried for the first time ( after that the blender is completely at rest  J), the blender method is to tedious, time consuming and also messy, may be depends upon each individual but the hand mixing method is the best method ( self relying as I say J) as far as your hands are clean and dry.
5. The mix has to be prepared to an extent that you start realizing the batter turns out to be fluffy from the initial heavier phase of it, that is when your batter is all ready to bake in oven.
6. Note: Please don’t forget to add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and 4 tablespoon of milk in the process when the mix is getting ready
7. This batter could be baked as a whole if someone wishes to just relish the simple plain vanilla cake, and for the actual marble cake please proceed further.
8. Now take out half of batter in another vessel (depends upon the amount of chocolate flavor desired by an individual it may be lesser or more batter to be divided) and add 2-3 tablespoon of cocoa powder (varies  upon the chocolate taste density for an individual ) to the batter and mix it well, until the batter turns into smooth chocolate flavor batter.

Note: The average baking time for cake is 18 to 20 mins in any microwave oven, but the particulars stated above are with respect to 1000W oven which we own, so the methodology of baking may differ depending on the wattage

Remove the cake from the microwave, cool slightly and unmould and relish this everlasting tasty delicacy J