Marble Cake

After an exhusting week and a rude early awakening by builders, this weeks bake needed to be easy. I've been making marble cake since I was a pre-teen, it's essentially a victoria sponge mixture with added chocolate to half, so it seemed a sensible, quick bake for this tired person.

First, you mix the ingredients into a standard sponge mix - creaming butter and sugar, adding eggs, then sifting in the flour.

Then, you split the batter into two bowls. Into one bowl you add the milk, into the other bowl you add melted chocolate and coffee.

I hadn't split my mixture as evenly as I'd have like, but I didn't notice until I started to fill the cake tin with dollops of the different coloured batters. Underneath this even looking split is a LOT of chocolate mixture. Whoops!

My cake tin was also a little smaller than the recipe called for, so when this cake rose, it rose up over the edges a little. Nevermind.

Because the different colour batters have the same consistency (from the milk or the coffee/choc additions) neither colour sank to the bottom of the cake, leaving a lovely marbled effect throughout the whole cake. It was also moist and fluffy because of the additional liquid.

The flavour was vanilla-y with hints of chocolate in the darker areas. Yum!

Marble Cake

butter or oil for greasing

175g butter or margarine

175g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

few drops of vanilla essence

225g self-raising flour

pinch of salt

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp strong black coffee

50g chocolate, broken into chunks

Line and grease a 20cm/8in round cake tin. Set the oven to 180C / gas 4.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Stir into the creamed mixture, lightly but thoroughly, until evenly mixed. Place half the mixture in a second bowl and beat in the milk.

Combine the coffee and chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. heat gently until the chocolate melts. Stir thoroughly, then add to the cake mixture in the mixing bowl, beating well.

Put alternative spoonfuls of plan and chocolate mixture into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 45-60minutes, until firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack and top with chocolate fudge icing if liked.