Eggless chocolate vanilla swirl cake (marble cake)
My niece Tash is one of the most clear minds I have ever seen in my life so far. She is 8 now but ever since she has been able to communicate (which has pretty much been all her life :)), she has always been pretty clear on what she wants. When we were discussing about a cake that she absolutely fancies (this was almost a year back), she told me she wants to eat this awesome chocolate & vanilla swirl cake (effectively a marble cake). I had thankfully noted this down on my phone & kept a reminder for myself to make this cake for her b’day this year. The thing is, she had remembered she had told me this and she knew I was going to make this cake for her b’day this year. Thankfully for me, I had kept my reminder (you know, the oldies do need some form of a reminder :D). When the reminder popped this year, I spoke to my co-sister (Malathy) and realised this was all the cake she was going to have for her party and so, I had a pretty big responsibility :). So, when she had come over a few weekends before her actual b’day, I did a mini version of this cake (including the icing) and gave it to her for tasting (testing :D) and she gave her thumbs up (with some review comments :D)! My confidence had gotten it’s required boost. However, I was nervous as hell since I really didn’t wanna mess up the cake on her big day! Hence, I started pretty early on the actual baking day just in case any horrendous surprises hit its way. Thankfully, the whole cake came out really really good. The icing was just perfect. Everyone loved the cake including the birthday girl (phew) and it was one of those very few cakes that I have come across in my life which got over right that evening of the party. There was seriously no leftover of this cake :). If you don’t believe me, you gotta try this. This recipe makes for 1 kg of a cake, so just half the recipe for a smaller cake. I followed this recipe for the cake. This didn’t have the icing recipe. I went with a standard chocolate icing recipe for which I took my baker friend Accu’s advise :).
A point for me to remember is how Adya understands when I am baking something. He gets so excited when something’s in the oven. He has now slowly started eating sweet stuff as well & this cake will go down the special zone for us. Even when the cake was baking, he took a small cup and pointed at the oven & asked me to get him a piece of whatever was baking. When I told him he has to wait, he waited patiently till the time the cake was out of the oven & once again, gestured me to get him a piece. My heart just melted a little but I couldn’t give him a slice since the cake was for Tasha to cut later at the party. I wasn’t sure if he’ll retain the interest to eat the cake later on but surprisingly, he did :D.
By the way, this is how the cake looked right before we cut it. Tash is in the mega Harry Potter love phase (everything around her life now revolves around it) and the decorations are her creative version of quidditch (non harry potter lovers, please google this) – the 3 lollipops are the quidditch hoops & the golden wrap chocolate is the golden snitch. I love how she used simple props & achieved what she had in her creative mind. The kids these days – AMAZING I tell ya!
- 3/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter
- 1.5 cups refined sugar
- 1/2 cup regular yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1/2 tbsp white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2.5 cups white whole wheat flour/ brown flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup regular cow's milk
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder for the chocolatey part
- 2 tbsp refined sugar
- 1 tbsp regular cow's milk
- 3/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter
- 1.5 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- a pinch salt
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Line a 8x12 or a 9x13 cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200c.
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In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda & baking powder. Set aside.
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In a wide bowl, blend together room temperature butter & sugar.
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Throw in the yogurt, vinegar & vanilla essence & continue blending. What you will end up with is a fairly smooth mixture.
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At this stage, add half the dry ingredients mix & continue blending.
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Add the milk & blend (this will loosen up the mixture).
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Throw in the rest of the dry ingredients mix & continue blending. The end result of this is a smooth creamy (& yummy :D) vanilla batter.
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Pour 2/3rds of this mixture on to the cake pan.
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Add the unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar & milk (from the chocolatey part of the cake section) to the remainder of the vanilla batter.
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Blend this well. This is the chocolate part of the cake. Pour this on to the cake.
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With a fork/ knife, run through the cake a few times. DO NOT over do this as you will end up with an overall chocolat-ish cake rather than a swirl/ marble cake.
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Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. Ensure your cake is cooked by sticking a toothpick to the center of the cake & it comes out clean.
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Gorgeous cake ready & set it aside for cooling. You can omit the icing & just cut this gorg cake into pieces and have it as it is.
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However, if you want to elevate it a step further, read on.
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In a bowl, add all the ingredients under the icing section - room temp butter, confectioners sugar, cocoa powder & a pinch of salt.
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Blend till smooth. Add 1-2 tsp of milk if you think the mixture is too thick to be spread on a cake.
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Once the cake cools down, cut it into a half (horizontally) using a sharp knife.
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Spread 1/3 of the frosting on top of the bottom half of the cake.
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Place the top half of the cake now & spread the remainder of the frosting on it.
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Cut into slices & enjoy :).
- My niece wanted only the top & middle portion of the cake to be frosted. She didn't want the sides frosted. If you need the whole cake frosted, double the icing recipe.
- This cake stays good outside for a few hours. Beyond that refrigerate & warm up for a few seconds in the microwave before eating.
- I highly recommend the use of parchment paper in this recipe for a clean & smooth finish of the top of the cake.
For the cake
Preheat the oven to 200c. Line a cake pan (8×12 or 9×13) with parchment paper. If you don’t have a parchment paper, just butter the base & dust some flour on to it.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda & baking powder.
Ensure there are no lumps. If you find any lumps, sift them through a sieve.
In a separate wide bowl, add the room temperature and sugar (I melted my butter a little too much. Pls stop before this stage).
Beat well using a hand blender.
To this, add the yogurt, vinegar & vanilla essence. Continue to blend.
Beat till you have a fairly smooth mixture.
To this add half the dry ingredients mix & continue blending.
Add the milk at this stage & blend.
Now, add the remainder of the dry ingredients mix & blend.
What you will have is a smooth & creamy cake dough (and yummy if I may add :))
Pour 2/3rds of this mixture into the cake pan.
Add the cocoa powder, sugar & some milk (mentioned in the chocolatey section of the cake). Blend this well.
Top this on to the vanilla part of the cake.
Taking a fork, just draw through the cake a few times. Don’t over do it since the swirls won’t come at all then.
Bake in an oven for 30-35 minutes (mine took 35 minutes). When well done, if you insert a tooth pick in the center of the cake, it should come out clean. Let the cake cool down.
For the icing
In a bowl, add room temperature butter, vanilla essence, confectioners sugar & a pinch of salt.
Almost forgot to add cocoa powder :D. So yeah, throw that in as well.
Blend till smooth. If you think, the mixture is too thick & you will find it hard to spread, add 1-2 tsp of milk. DO NOT make your icing runny.
For the cake finale
Once the cake is cooled, using a sharp knife, cut the cake into half (this you do if you want the center of the cake frosted as well).
Add 1/3 of the icing on top of the bottom cake layer.
Spread using a blunt knife/ butter knife.
Place the top half of the cake & slather the remainder of the frosting/ icing.
Smoothen it out. As you can see, I am a super newbie to the land of frosting & icing. I wanted to get a complete new texture on top but couldn’t :). Finally, cut into slices & dig in. Trust me, you really can’t stop with one.
