Marble Cake Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Marble Cake Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 90 minutes plus cooling time
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves: 24 people
Ingredients Needed
For Cake
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 310g/10.9ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 300g/10.6ozs cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 100g/3.5ozs butter, melted
- 60ml/2flozs boiling water from a kettle
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or paste
- 2 drops pink food colouring
- Strawberry or raspberry flavouring
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons boiling water
For American Buttercream Frosting
- 1100g/2.4lbs pure icing or powdered sugar
- 310g/10.9ozs butter, room temperature
- 4 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 4-5 tablespoons milk
- Pink food colouring
- Strawberry or raspberry flavouring
- 6 maraschino cherries
- 1/4 cup simple syrup (optional)
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 PREPARE - Preheat oven to 170C/340F fan forced or 190/374F conventional and line 2x 16cm/6.3inch diameter and 8cm/3.1inch high round cake tins on the base and sides.
Step 2 WHISK - Whisk eggs in a mixer bowl on high speed for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy. On low speed add sugar in a stream and increase speed to high and whisk for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is thick and pale.
Step 3 FOLD - Sift the cake flour and baking powder together and then fold into the egg mixture. Add the melted butter, hot water and vanilla and fold well. Make sure that the butter is fully enveloped, check under the batter near the base of the bowl where it sometimes hides. Try not to over stir.
Step 4 TINT - Divide the mixture into three. Add strawberry colouring nad flavouring to one and stir until just combined. To a second bowl sift in the cocoa powder and add the boiling water and stir until just combined.
Step 5 LAYER - Spoon one spoon of each on the base of the prepared tin and alternate. take a knife and swirl the mixture in an S pattern once.
Step 6 BAKE - Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the centre springs back when pressed or a skewer inserted comes out clean. See note below if your cake tin is a different size.
Step 7a BUTTERCREAM CONVENTIONAL - Sift the icing sugar. Beat the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and 3 tablespoons of milk with electric beaters on low speed for a minute. If the buttercream is looking stiff add the remaining milk tablespoon by tablespoon. Beat for 3-4 minutes on high speed until pale and fluffy.
Step 7a BUTTERCREAM THERMOMIX - Place icing sugar in a clean and fry Thermomix bowl and set to 30 seconds speed #6. Add butter and set to 5 minutes, reverse speed #4. After 15 seconds add 3 tablespoons of milk and vanilla and it should come together to become a buttercream texture. After 2 minutes add colour and flavouring.
Step 8 CRUMB COAT- Trim the cake so that the cake is completely flat on the top and cut each cake in half horizontally. Place a dab of buttercream on a cake board to secure the cake and place one cake half on this. Brush with simple syrup to keep the cake moist (not needed if you bake the cake on the same day or the day before). Spread with buttercream and repeat until you have 4 layers sandwiched with buttercream. Spread a thin layer of buttercream around the outside and use a scraper to smooth it out. refrigerate for 20-30 minutes until the buttercream is firm.
Step 8 COVER - Fill a piping bag with some buttercream reserving around 1 cup and fitted with an extra large 789 piping tip and pipe buttercream around the cake. Use the dough scraper to smooth it out - the best way is to have the scraper in your dominant hand and turn the turntable with your other hand. Pipe any gaps and keep scraping.
Step 9 DECORATE- Tint the remaining buttercream with red and mix. Fill the piping bag and tilt the cake carefully and pipe a waterfall pattern on the side. I also filled a small piping bag fitted with the 47 small basket tip and piped some pink dabs. Add the maraschino cherries on top. This can be stored, covered at room temperature.
Substitution notes:
This recipe makes 2 x 6 inch cakes that can be split in half to create a 4 layer cake. This recipe can easily be halved to make a single cake instead of a layered cake. You also don't need to spread frosting in between the layers but I love frosting so I never miss a chance to add it.
I baked 6 inch cakes which are smaller than a typical 8 inch or 20cm cake because I wanted the cake to have a taller look. However you can easily make this into an 20cm/8inch cake, just bake it for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Personal Note
We were celebrating Laura's birthday with her and her boyfriend Lima Lima Delta (he's in the Navy). Lima Lima Delta is navy code for a little lie down ie when someone needs to go for a nap. LLD is great to cook for because he's a real food enthusiast that is discovering a lot of food for the first time now that he is in a relationship with Laura and she is opening up his palate to delicious food. He will try everything and give his honest opinion about it and it's great to have someone expressive about food because Mr NQN is the opposite and if he loves something he'll just describe it as "it's ok".
Last time I gave her some cake, it was the chocolate zucchini cake, one of my favourite ever chocolate cakes as it is rich, fudgey and moist. She messaged me one night saying that she overheard him cutting in the kitchen himself a slice of the cake and telling the cake, "I love you" quietly. It was very funny and honestly I feel the same way when eating cake too!
Sheryl also stopped by Laura's house and tried the cake and I'm was happy to see that it got her tick of approval too. She said that it reminded her of the marble cake she had when growing up and that the CWA would be proud.
So tell me Dear Reader, are you expressive about food? Do you like marble cake?
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