My deepest apologies go out to the very few but very wonderful followers I have. I know I have been absent for some time now and I really have no good excuses for my slacking. However, after I finished the hardest semester of my life, I think I just needed a break from everything and a chance to let my brain turn to mush for a while.
Although I have not written, I did continue to bake my little heart out over the break. There were successes and there were failures, but there was one creation in particular that I am quite proud of and decided that it should be shared with the world.
A few weeks ago I was doing what I love to do most and rummaging around my collection of baking books for some inspiration. After flipping through numerous pages I came across a recipe for marble cake and had a lightbulb moment. In all of my baking adventures I have yet to try my hand at a marble cake, so I decided to take this recipe and make it my own! Turns out, I'm not too shabby at making some mean marble cake and here is the recipe I came up with:
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla bean
- 6 oz of unsalted, at room temperature, butter
- 1/2 cup of caster sugar
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 2 cups flour (self-raising)
- 3/4 cup vanilla soy milk
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp warm vanilla soy milk
Directions
1.) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and butter a traditional sized loaf pan.
2.) Split the vanilla bean down the center and scrape out the seeds. If you don't have a vanilla bean, feel free to use extract, the flavor just won't shine through as much. If choosing to use extract, use 1 tsp. Put the vanilla in a mixing bowl with the butter and sugars. Cream the mixture until it is pale and fluffy.
3.) Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition.
4.) Sift your flour and then add it into the creamed mixture, alternating with milk until everything is combined. Divide the mixture in half and into separate bowls.
5.) Next combine the cocoa powder and the warm milk, stirring until the consistency is smooth. Add the mixture to one half of the cake batter and once again stir until well combined.
6.) Alternately pour spoonfuls of mixtures into your prepared loaf pan. This step doesn't have to be perfect, make the layers inconsistent so that the finished product looks even better.
7.) Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave in the loaf pan until cake is cooled then cut and serve!
I was so impressed with how this cake came out and can't wait for some of you to try it for yourselves. This has serious potential to be a real crowd pleaser so give it a go and if you feel like it, I would love to know how your cake turns out :)
A special thanks goes out to my wonderful boyfriend Grant who has taken my blog photography into his own hands with hope of making my blog even better :)
As always, Happy Baking!!!
