Simple But Winning

I must admit that I have never thought very highly of a marble cake.  It could be due to the memory of my childhood marble cake.  That humble yellow-brown cake bought from the school canteen or roti-man which is often rancid.

I was browsing through some cookbooks the other day and came across this recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Heavenly Cakes. Not sure why, but I somehow got attracted to this Marble Velvet Cake, as she calls it.  The result ?  I am ready to retract my earlier statement, as this is by far, the best marble cake I have ever had.  Velvet is the perfect middle name for this cake, as the texture of this cake is so....how should I say it, velvety ?

My friend, E, recently had a knee surgery, and I baked this cake as a treat for her.  I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did.

By the way, Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Heavenly Cakes is my new favourite cake book.  Her techniques in mixing make the most remarkable cakes.

You will need:

85 g dark chocolate, chopped

6 large egg yolks

242 g sour cream

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

300 g cake flour

300 g castor sugar

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

255 g unsalted butter

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 175 deg Celsius.  Grease a 23cm round pan.

Heat the chocolate in the microwave or using a double boiler until almost completely melted. Remove from heat, stir until fully melted and set aside to cool.

Whisk yolks, one quarter of the sour cream and vanilla just lightly combined.

Mix together the flour, sugar, leavening agents and salt with a beater.  Add the butter and the remaining sour cream. Mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened.  Gradually add the egg mixture in three parts.

Remove one third of the batter to a bowl and stir in the melted chocolate.  Spoon one third of the remaining batter into the prepared pan.  Top with dollops of half of the chocolate batter.  Top with another third of the plain batter, and then with dollops of the remaining chocolate batter.  Top with the remaining third of the plain batter, spreading it evenly over the top.

To marbleize the batter, dip a tablespoon into the batter, and lift up and over in a folding motion all over the pan.  Smooth the surface evenly.

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Let cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning it out to cool completely.