MARBLE CAKE

Marble cake is a childhood favorite that we brought along from Germany. Incidentally the recipe was historically developed in that part of Europe before the end of the 17th century where sponge batters were painted with fruit, herbs and other natural ingredients. The arrangement of those cakes didn't necessarily imitate the marble effect. Sometimes it just followed a geometrical pattern. Battenberg cake that was named after the German prince who married Queen Victoria's granddaughter, was one such example. Hidden under an icing of marzipan, it looked like a chess board when sliced. 

 

View of Vienna from the Belvedere (Canaletto, 1750)

 

The recipe for marble cake appeared in Vienna just before 1800. It consisted of four different batters: white, yellow, green, and brown. White and yellow cakes were painted with the relevant parts of an egg. Dark batters owed their colour to molasses and spices at first, then pastrymakers discovered the alternative of chocolate. In the second half of the nineteenth century, marble cake was introduced to American home bakers with spectacular results and from there, recipes came back to Europe.

Although originally developed in German-speaking countries, Marmorkuchen was listed in the "American" section of Praktisches Kochbuch by Henriette Davidis. This section was added in the last editions of the 19th century, including the scanned version I consulted that dates from 1897. There was no American section in the previous editions and no marble cake, either. The cake was made of three parts. For the white part, they used 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4tsp vanilla, 1 1/2 cups flour and 1tsp baking powder, plus a meringue of 4 egg whites. For the yellow part, 3/4 cups sugar, 4 egg yolks, 1/4tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, 1tbsp butter, 1 cup flour and 1tsp baking powder. For the brown part, they dissolved 1/4 chocolate bar in a little hot milk with 1tbsp sugar and 1tsp vanilla. This mixture was stirred into the white part.

In the "American" version of the German cake by Henriette Davidis, the largest part was brown. However, there are recipes in which vanilla-flavored batter prevails and others that use no chocolate: the second batter is painted red with natural or artificial colours. Marble cake is rarely covered with icing. My childhood favorite was simply dusted with powdered sugar.

 

 

 

 

MARBLE CAKE

This version is slightly adapted from Henriette Davidis' recipe.

 

I n g r e d i e n t s

for the white part:

2 cups flour, sifted with

2tsp baking powder

4 egg whites, beaten with 

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk and

1/2tsp vanilla extract

for the yellow part:

1 1/2 cups flour, sifted with

1tsp baking powder

4 egg yolks, beaten with

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter and

1/2tsp vanilla sugar

for the brown part:

100g chocolate, dissolved in

1/4 cup milk

 

M e t h o d

1. Preheat the oven at 180oC. Grease a Bundt cake pan. 2. Make the white and yellow parts separately, as follows: Sift the flour and baking powder. Beat the egg, sugar, butter, milk (if using) and vanilla extract. Combine the two mixtures using a spoon. 3. Fold the chocolate mixture into the white batter. Now you have one yellow and one brown mixture that you must pour alternately into the baking pan. Start with half the yellow mixture, continue with one half of the brown and repeat with the remaining batters. 4. Bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Upturn on a wire rack to cool. Enjoy marble cake plain or dusted with powedered sugar.

 

N o t e 

Another way to create the marble effect is to pour the yellow batter into the prepared tin, followed by the brown one and use a knife to stir the mixtures.