Ingredient: cake flour

The idea of lightly mingling two different batters in one cake seems to have originated in early 19th century Germany. The earliest version of marble cake consisted of a kugelhopf (sweet yeast bread), one half of which was colored with molasses and spices to achieve a dark colored batter. Bakers next began to do the same thing with sponge cake batter.

The marble cake came to North America with German immigrants. It wasn’t until the late 19th century, when chocolate gained a greater hold on the North American public, that ‘marble cake‘ as we know it today really took shape. The first known recipe to appear in an American cookbook went with the spice and molasses variety, though the base was a butter cake rather than a sponge or yeasted cake. Jewish German bakers eventually introduced the idea of using chocolate to create the darker batter in marble cakes.

Of course, there is no right or wrong way to create the marbling effect. The only thing to know is that you should not overmix the batter. The colors are supposed to mingle but stay separate creating the distinct marbling design.

Print Recipe

German Marble Cake

Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:

Rate this recipe!

Course

dessert

Keyword

German marble cake

Servings

MetricUS Imperial

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Course dessert Keyword German marble cake Servings MetricUS Imperial Ingredients 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 cup cake flour 1/4 tsp baking powder pinch of salt 3 large egg yolks 1/4 cup milk 1/2 tsp vanilla 3 large egg whites 1/2 cup sugar 1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Votes: 1 Rating: 5 You: Rate this recipe!

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Either butter or line with parchment paper, (2) 5-inch mini springform pans; set aside.
2. In a bowl, melt butter, in microwave. In a small bowl, sift flour, baking powder & salt; add to butter & combine.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks, milk & vanilla then add to butter mixture. Whisk until combined.
4. Beat egg whites until foamy then gradually add sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter.
5. In a small cup with a spout, place about 1/2 cup of the batter & add cocoa powder. Fold in to combine.
6. Divide white batter between 2 prepared pans. Pour chocolate batter onto each cake forming circles with it. Using a wooden skewer, make lines from the center out making a spider web design.
7. Bake for 45 minutes on bottom rack of the oven or until cake tests done with a wooden pick. Remove from oven, allow to cool for about 5 minutes on cooling rack. Flip over & cool in pans for at least 30 minutes. We enjoyed a small bit of raspberry puree with the cake.