The Marble Cake

This was to welcome a new addition to the baking collection - a Bundt pan. Food blogs that I follow were always paying tribute to this pan by using it for age-old classic European cakes that turned out absolutely gorgeous. I opted to go in for a much simpler cake - a chocolate and vanilla marble cake. That happiness you get when the marbled pattern is intact on cutting the cake - totally worth all the calories that this beauty is loaded with !!

INGREDIENTS

For the Cake

Butter - 8.5oz softened to room temperature

Granulated Sugar - 2 cups

Eggs - 6

All-purpose flour - 2 ¾ cups

Vanilla Extract - 1tbsp

Baking Soda - 1tsp

Sour Cream - 1cup (250ml)

Bittersweet chocolate chips - 8oz (1 cup)

For the Chocolate Sauce

Semi-sweet chocolate chips - 8oz

Heavy whipping cream - 1/2 cup

Chopped nuts - a handful

PREPARATION

1. Combine the butter and sugar till it becomes creamy and fluffy. This takes about 7 minutes at low speed on a stand/hand mixer.

2. Add the eggs in to the butter mixture , one at the time and combine well until they are fully incorporated. Slowly add in the flour , one cup at a time , to this mixture and fold well.

3. To this batter , add the baking soda and the sour cream and fold well. Do not beat or overwork the batter at this stage. 

4. Separate the batter into two halves. In one portion of the batter , stir in melted chocolate chips and fold until combined well. 

5. Grease the bundt pan with some butter/cooking spray and use an ice cream scoop to place alternate scoops of vanilla cake batter and the chocolate cake batter. Continue to work in layers until all the batter has been used up. Run a fork through the batter to create a marbled pattern and smooth the top of the cake pan with a spatula. 

6. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and bake for 47 minutes. Make sure that a cake tester inserted comes out clean before inverting onto a wire rack. Cool the cake until it reaches room temperature.

7. For the chocolate sauce , combine the semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl. Place the bowl on top of a saucepan containing simmering water. Heat until the chocolate and cream and completely mixed together. 

8. Pour the sauce on top of the cake and garnish with chopped nuts (hazelnut , almonds and pecans).