This chocolate vanilla marble cake is very tasty. It is not very sweet, can be eaten at any time of the day and accompanies beautifully a cup of coffee or tea.
Ingredients 3 ½ cups self raising flour 1 cup butter or margarine 1 ½ cups sugar 3 cups orange juice Zest from 2 large oranges 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 4 eggs 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 generous pinch salt 1 chocolate (bitter) 200 gr. ½ cup cocoa powder ½ cup of milk
Directions
Sift the flour and add the baking powder and salt. (You can use plain flour, but I prefer the self raising flour and I add the baking powder to give it an extra boost.)
Separate the eggs and beat the whites until you have a quite stiff meringue. Put it aside.
Beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one by one beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and the orange zest.
In the meantime place the chocolate with the cocoa powder in a container and place it over a pot with hot water (bain marie). Add about half a cup of milk to the mixture as it will be rather thick. Stir until the milk is absorbed.
If you wish you can use only half a cup of cocoa with 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar dissolved in half a cup of milk, or only the bar of chocolate. I use both, because the flavor is more intense.
Add spoonfuls of the flour to the butter mixture, alternatively with spoonfuls of the meringue and a little orange juice. Mix gently with a spatula and continue adding the ingredients until they are finished.
Put about 2/3 of the batter in another bowl and add the chocolate/cocoa mixture. Mix well with a spatula.
Prepare 2 cake tins 20cm each. It is best to line them with greaseproof paper so that you can remove the cake more easily. You can also use a larger baking pan so that you’ll have a larger cake.
Put in the baking tins spoonfuls of the white and chocolate mixture and put them randomly in the pans. When both mixtures are finished, move gently the pans around so that the surface is flat.
Bake them at 180oC for about 50 minutes. If you use a larger cake pan you will need about 60 minutes. Test the cakes with a toothpick to see if it is done. If the centre is still runny, put them back in the oven for a further 5 or 10 minutes. Check again with a clean toothpick.
Remove cakes from the oven, take them out of the baking tins and let them cool on a wire rack. You can leave them plain, or dust them with powdered sugar.