German · Baking

Marble Cake

The German Marmorkuchen: one batter split in two, one half darkened with cocoa, and the two dragged through each other with a single pass of a skewer. Baked in a ring tin so every slice shows the pattern.

1 hr 25 min prep and cooking plus 15 min cooling plus time for cooling completely, which the recipe does not time at least 1 hr 40 min start to finish Serves 12 servings Easy
Jump to Recipe Method
Marble Cake

Photograph credit: Slice of marble cake by ProjectManhattan · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Build the Meal Around Marble Cake

  • Filter coffee
  • A glass of milk
  • Whipped cream and cherries

How to Make Marble Cake

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

  1. Heat the oven to 170°C / 340°F. Butter a 24 cm ring or bundt tin thoroughly and dust with flour, getting into every crease.

  2. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating a full minute after each. If it curdles, add a spoonful of the flour.

  4. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt, then fold into the batter in three additions alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with flour.

  5. Weigh the batter and divide it exactly in half between two bowls.

  6. Sift the cocoa into one half, add the extra milk and the rum, and fold until evenly dark and the same thickness as the plain batter.

  7. Spoon the two batters into the tin in alternating dollops, roughly chequerboard, then level the surface.

  8. Drag a skewer through in a single slow figure-of-eight, once around the ring. Stop there.

  9. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean and the cake has pulled slightly from the sides.

  10. Cool in the tin 15 minutes, turn out onto a rack, cool completely and dust with icing sugar.

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

Notes From the Method

Butter and flour the tin properly, into every groove. A marble cake that sticks tears along the pattern, which is the part you made it for.

One pass with the skewer. Two and you have a brown cake.

Test at 50 minutes. Ring tins bake faster than the same volume in a loaf.

Keeping What's Left

Wrapped at room temperature for 4 days — it is better on day two. Freezes whole or in slices for 3 months.

Questions and Answers

How long does Marble Cake take to make?

30 minutes of preparation and 55 minutes of cooking, plus 15 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 40 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 12.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. Garnishes, greasing and other items with no amount are not counted. The calories include 1 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.

379Calories
6gProtein
42gCarbs
20gFat
1gFibre
22gSugar
290mgSodium

Your notes on this recipe

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

Your own rating out of 5

Private to you: notes and ratings are saved in this browser only, are never sent anywhere, and other readers cannot see them.

Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .