Marbled Chocolate and Sponge cake: Friday Challenge

My Friday Challenge has become a bit of a Sunday Challenge. There is just something about baking, it feels more natural to bake a cake after a nice lazy sunday morning when your feeling relaxed and you have a day free from distractions. Also it feels more accepted to have a slice of cake…or two…on a weekend rather than during the week! 🙂

A slice of pretty marbled cake AKA Zebra cake

I saw this technique when browsing pinterest for cake ideas and it looks so simple yet impressive I really had to try it, I followed the link back to a great blog called My Cake School where I found a visual tutorial. The recipes I found all used instant cake mixes, which I was very tempted by, however this challenge is to help me learn to bake so I made my own cake mix.

I decided to dip into my Delia Smith “Complete Cookery Course” which I knew would have a simple sponge recipe I could adapt for this marbled technique. I used the “All in One Sponge” which was so easy to make. I’m also starting to notice that cake recipes use equal measures of flour, sugar and butter so I feel I could begin to put together my own recipe.

Ok so here is how I made the cake:

Split the cake mix in half and add melted chocolate and cocoa powder to one half

Place a scoop of the sponge mix in the tin and then a scoop of chocolate cake mix in the middle

Place another scoop of plain sponge mix on top of the chocolate. Continue this alternating the two mixes untill it is all used up and the cake has spread out to fill the tin

Mine’s not beautiful round rings but you get the idea of what you are looking for

I think my cake mix was a little too thick to allow it to smoothly begin to spread as I added each layer, I would suggest using a looser thin cake mix. Also I really liked the chocolate flavours but you could also experiment with different colours!

Marbled/ Zebra Cake

I don’t think the chocolate flavour came through massively but over all it was a light, sweet sponge. Also I preferred it with no icing, instead I added some fresh strawberries to add some moisture and fresh sweetness. So much nicer than sugary icing!