Marble Cake

We just finished off a batch of chocolate chip cookies so I felt like something new.  I found a marble cake recipe that looked easy and good enough to be worth a try.  My first mistake was forgetting to warm up the oven which meant the batter didn't go directly in the oven. I also didn't work fast enough transferring batter and mixing in the chocolate.  This resulted in the baking powder losing it's carbon dioxide before the heat could seal it inside. Next time I will divide the batter and mix in the chocolate before adding the baking powder to both halves. That should make it lighter.  

The second mistake was following a recipe I knew had to be wrong. The recipe said to put it in a 350ºF oven for  1 1/4 quarter hours. I looked at the amount of batter and the ingredients again and to me it looked like a 25 to 30 minute baking time but the recipe clearly called for much longer.  So of course I threw personal knowledge and experience out the window and blithely followed the recipe. It had been in for just over an hour when I looked at it and decided it must be done.  I took it out and tested it with a toothpick, which came out clean unsurprisingly. Following is what I did, not what I should have done. (reserve baking powder for last, chop chocolate chips, bake 25-30 minutes)

Marble Cake

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup chocolate chips

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp orange rind

I creamed the butter, then the sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time and added vanilla. Add flour and baking powder (reserve baking powder instead) and mix.  Add salt, milk and mix. If batter is a little too thick add extra milk. Next I divided the batter and added the orange rind to the larger half and the chocolate and chips to the smaller half.  I poured half the orange batter into a 9 inch ring, added all the chocolate batter and topped it off with the remaining orange batter.  Then I drew a knife through the batter all the way around the ring to give the marble effect. I put it in the oven for 65 minutes. (way too long).

The outside of the cake was crisp like biscotti but the inside managed to retain enough moisture to be edible. It was quite good, the orange came through and the chocolate was better than I expected. I took thin slices and buttered them so they were quite pleasant to munch on. It will be gone by the end of the next day, that says it all!