Summers remind me of our holidays in Pondicherry. How intimidated we were on a friend telling us that summer is not the right time to visit Pondicherry. But we had our fill of good times and good food. We loved the guest house where we put up for four memorable days. The lotus pond, green frogs, the fish pond, the beach, and cashews growing kept us so amused and engaged that the heat did not bother us at all.
On the last day, we had a simple lunch at a CafĂ©. The dessert counter had great varieties of cakes. The swirls of chocolate marble cake caught my kids’ attention and they wanted me to bake one for them. Yesterday, when I baked this cake, the memories got fresh again.
We enjoyed our slices with ice cream as we flipped through the pages of the album, reliving the good times.
Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt (or less depending on taste)
- 1 cup castor sugar
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- Cocoa paste (¼ cup cocoa + 2 tablespoons boiling water. Stir till smooth)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees C. Line the bottom and grease the sides of one 9x5 inch loaf pan.
- Whisk together first three ingredients in a large bowl.
- Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add vanilla essence.
- Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with buttermilk.
- Set aside 1/3 of this batter.
- Add cocoa paste to the reserved batter and stir till well combined.
- Spoon the batters in the prepared pan. Add one tablespoon of vanilla batter followed by the chocolate batter. Level the top with a spoon. Run a table knife or the back of a spoon in swirling motion through the batters to get to get a marbling effect.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer pan to a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out the cake from pan and cool completely on the rack.
On my kids’ behest, I added 2 tablespoons of vanilla custard powder to the plain batter to get a golden hue.
On another occasion, I added 2 tablespoons of strawberry custard powder to plain batter and the result was a lovely strawberry and chocolate marble cake.
What a lovely looking cake Namita. I love those cashews and the frog. I hear you can eat the cashew fruit? I would love to grow cashews here but it is SO cold and frosty at the moment that the poor trees would probably dissolve! Clever you to go somewhere as beautiful as Pondicherry when everyone else stayed at home to avoid the heat. You got that gorgeous place to yourself :)
ReplyDeleteInspired by your recipe I made an eggless version of this cake.It came out really nice.Thanks for sharing.I am tempted to go to Pondicherry after reading your post.Beautiful pics.
ReplyDeleteHello Abha, So happy that you came out with the egg free recipe of this cake. I am also planning to bake one soon. Yes, Abha, Pondicherry is a wonderful place. You never get enough of it. Quaint lanes, French architecture, sea side cafetarias some lovely bakeries...the list is endless. You must visit Pondicherry and experience it.
DeleteDear namita please post eggless version of this cake
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteHow can we make it eggless and with whole wheat flour also what quantity should i use for 8by 4 pan
Your reply will be appreciated
Thanks