By: Valerie
Cakes and Cupcakes, , ,

Marble Pound Cake

Yield: one 9 x 5 -inch loaf (about 12 slices)
Recipe: 76/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 156

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    Happy new year everyone! I realized recently that although I had managed to post at least one recipe every month for the past 2 years, I have not published anything for November and December 2014, which is quite disheartening. They were crazy months! I truly have no idea how I thought I would be able to finish the 200 recipes by October of last year (2014) while simultaneously doing a Ph.D in biochemistry. That is totally unreasonable and so that is the main reason that less and less recipes appear on my blog as the end of the year approaches. However, I always enjoy baking and if I am not doing it I am eating desert or thinking about it, so I am not giving up!

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ⅔ cup sour cream
  • 4 oz (120 g) bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

    For my first recipe of 2015, I decided to make this simple yet enticing marble pound cake. Certainly, I have to practice the art of “marbling” different batters, in this case chocolate and vanilla, but I think that for a first it came out pretty good. Truth be told, I was a bit worried as I was putting the batter in the loaf pan as it was very thick. Much thicker than what I am used to when I am making a banana bread, for instance. However, as usual I trusted Anna’s recipe and went with it, and it came out perfectly! Hence, do not worry when you are preparing the batter, it will seem thicker. Just make sure that you do not overbeat when you have added the flour. The cake is moist, not too sweet and has the distinct flavours of chocolate and vanilla. It is delicious and must be tried.

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and dust it with flour, removing any excess by tapping.
  2. Using a hand or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, making sure to beat well after each egg.
  4. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  5. Add the flour to the butter mixture, alternating with the sour cream, until the mixture is homogenous. Scrape half of this batter in a separate bowl.
  6. Melt the chocolate in a metal or glass bowl placed over a pot of simmering water. Alternatively, you can melt it in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring every time.
  7. Add the warm chocolate to one of the bowls of batter and stir until well blended.
  8. Put a big spoonful of vanilla and chocolate batter in the pan, alternating between each. Use a paring knife to swirl the batter.
  9. Bake the cake for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the pan, then turn it out to cool completely.

Valerie