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marble loaf cake cut into slices on a wooden serving board.
cookingwithmykids

Marble loaf cake

Marble loaf cake gives you the best of both worlds – a swirl of vanilla and chocolate loaf cake all in one bake!
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Decorating time 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 10
Course: Afternoon tea
Cuisine: British
Calories: 517
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g (1 cup) caster sugar
  • 250 g (1 cup) butter or baking spread
  • 3 eggs
  • 250 g (2 cups) self raising flour *
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 50 ml milk
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • For the decoration optional
  • 100 g (½ cup) milk chocolate
  • 100 g (½ cup) white chocolate
  • Chocolate sprinkles

Equipment

  • Digital scales
  • Freestanding mixer
  • Mixing bowl
  • Measuring cups
  • measuring spoons
  • 2 lb loaf tin
  • Wire rack

Method
 

  1. Preheat your oven to 180C / 170C Fan / 340F and grease 2lb loaf tin with butter or a little oil then line it with baking or parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together
  1. Measure out the butter and sugar and cream them together with the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer, a hand held mixer or even wooden spoons. Beat it until it looks light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla
  1. Start, by adding the vanilla.
    Then crack the eggs into a small bowl and before adding them into your mixing bowl one at a time, mixing them in in-between each addition.
Add the flour and milk
  1. Measure out the flour then add that into your mixing bowl. Stir it in until you have a nice smooth batter.
    Add the milk, and stir it through to thin the batter slightly.
Make the two different batters
  1. Split the batter into two different bowls. You can do it by eye or use your scales if you want to be more precise. It'll be roughly 450g per half.
  2. Add the cocoa powder to one half of the batter then stir it through so it is well combined and you have one vanilla batter and a chocolatey batter.
Make the marble loaf
  1. Spoon each batter into your prepared loaf tin. Rather than adding them all at once add dollops of each into the tin in different parts. Once you've added all the batter, you can use a skewer to swirl it through to create even more of a marble effect.
Bake the marble loaf
  1. Bake the marble loaf cake for 50-60 minutes. You'll know it's ready when it has risen nicely and the vanilla parts of it have turned a nice golden brown colour (it's harder to tell from the chocolate parts).
    To double check it's ready you can insert a skewer or something else sharp into the middle of the loaf and if it comes out clean it's ready. If there's batter still sticking to it pop the cake back into the the oven for a few more minutes.
    If you find your loaf is browning too quickly on top before the middle is ready cover it with some foil for the last part of the bake.
  2. Remove your loaf cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for a few minutes before taking it out the tin and popping it on to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate the marble loaf cake
  1. You can leave the marble loaf as it is, but if you like you can add a little bit of decoration.
    Start by measuring both chocolates out, breaking them into pieces and adding them to separate heatproof bowl.
    Heat them each in a double boiler (a bowl set over a pan of simmering water).
  2. Once each chocolate has melted you can pipe them over the top, or do like we did and add one over the top and spread it out with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Then before it sets add the other and swirl them through by running a skewer in one direction a few times.
    Leave the chocolate to set.

Notes

If you don't have self raising flour, swap it for an equal amount of plain/all-purpose flour and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder.