marble cake

If you like baking without butter, this marble cake is one to try. It’s not too sweet with lots of dark chocolate swirls. With all the controversy about butter being good or bad for you, I still bake mostly without butter just in case they are wrong again. And I don’t miss the butter in this moist and light cake.

A marble loaf never looks the same twice and when you slice it you never know what the swirl will look like. I always hope it will have an even mix of white and chocolate just like this…

My baking cocoa of choice is Dutch process, which produces a rich dark color and is less bitter than regular powdered cocoa. You can find Droste brand at World Market. I also really enjoy adding some fresh orange zest to this pound cake because chocolate and orange go great together. Plain or with orange, you won’t find a marble loaf this good at any store. Try it for dessert or afternoon tea, or serve it when you have company and wait for the raves. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I just posted the updated recipe for my marble loaf cake that I love so much. I went back to the original way that I was making it, which involved beating egg whites and folding them into the batter at the end. I had eliminated that step to make the recipe easier and less work but after making it a few times, I realized I should have left it alone.

So… good news / bad news. The good news is the loaf is light and fluffy again and the bad news is it takes a little more work – well just the one extra step of beating the egg whites.

If you hate washing pans (who doesn’t?) you will like this. If you do what I do and line the loaf pan completely with foil, you won’t have to wash the pan. And I don’t even grease the foil but you can if you want to. I just peel away the foil from the loaf, after about 15 minutes of cooling. But be careful when putting in the foil and use your knuckles in the corners so it doesn’t tear.

You’ll notice that I beat the egg whites first. When beating egg whites there must be no fat whatsoever in the bowl, not from the yolk or from beaters not are not completely clean. So use your clean beaters on the whites first. Now you can continue using the beaters on the second mixture without having to clean them first. My first recipe had fresh orange zest added and that is still an option. You can add the zest of an orange along with the flour but I like it both ways, with and without the orange zest.

This marble loaf is the first thing I make for company because it makes a beautiful presentation and goes really well with coffee or tea. And people will be amazed when you say, “There’s no butter at all in this cake.” I hope you’ll try my new, updated marble loaf cake. Click here for the new recipe. (Still want the old recipe? Click here) – Jenny Jones