A Simple Chocolate Orange Marble Cake

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake Recipe

It’s National Cake Week, apparently, which has rather crept up and bitten me on the arse. I was all set to present you with a reasonably healthy sugar-free sweet item this week, but that’s been shelved for a sugar laden, loaf of utter joy. I think I have mentioned before *please keep up with my loves if you are not a regular reader* that I bloody love sponge cake. It doesn’t particularly need icing and it doesn’t really need to be any flavour other than vanilla, it just needs to be a wonderful mouthful of soft sponge cake. A Marble Cake has been a favourite since my childhood and this used to be one of my Mother’s signature bakes. The boys love the chocolatey swirled affair too and it’s so simple you can whip one up at a moments notice. I meddled with the classic and today bring you a Chocolate Orange Marble Cake recipe.

I used to think chocolate with orange was the devil’s fodder. However, years of stealing the boys Terry’s Chocolate Oranges at Christmas has indoctrinated me into the tasty ways of the citrus and cocoa combo. It works here beautifully with the two sponges and creates a loaf of mixed flavours which is soft, *brace yourself* moist and a real keeper. It’s quick to make too, especially if you have a wonderful VonShef stand mixer, which quietly and efficiently whips up your cake mixture. Try and wait until the loaf cake has cooled sufficiently before you cut into thick slabs, but this may not be possible given the chocolatey orange scent coming from your kitchen. I based this on my Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe, thanks to me for the inspiration here.

Every week is National Cake Week in our house, I am always forking up some sort of baked goods in between writing, washing, cooking, shopping. I know it sounds like I am some sort of martyr, however, I pretend the cake is for Clyde and the boys, but it is pretty much just for me. Some things are worth the calories and this Chocolate Orange Marble Cake is one of them.

Here’s the simple cake line up for my chocolate orange creation. Still nothing from Stork about my life time service to Stork award. I’ll wait. You can, of course, use butter if you’d rather but I love the fact that Stork is always soft and ready to bake with.

Take your loaf tin and butter it super well or line with baking paper. Pre heat your oven to 150 degrees fan assisted.

Now in your stand mixer or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or hand mixer, beat either your Stork or soft butter and caster sugar until light in colour and texture.

Add the spoonful of vanilla extract, the two eggs then fold in the flour and salt until your cake batter is smooth and tasting delicious. I do love a spoonful of bake batter, I can’t help myself.

Now divide your mixture in half and put each half into a separate bowl. To the first half of the mixture simply fold through two tablespoons of milk.

In the second bowl, fold into the other half of mixture the orange zest, juice and cocoa powder.

Now for the marbling. In your buttered loaf tin, add half the vanilla mixture in blobs, leaving gaps in between. Then fill those gaps with blobs of half the chocolate mixture. Then repeat with the rest of the mixtures in a final layer. Try and put blobs of chocolate on top of vanilla, and vice versa.

You don’t have to be too precise with this, just blob away to your hearts content.

As you can see, I was really messy with my blobbing, as I am a mucky pup.

Now swirl the mixtures together with a knife or skewer to create the marble effect. Don’t overdo the swirling, you don’t want to muddy the mixtures.

Pop the tin in the pre heated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is golden, firm and a skewer comes out clean when poked in the middle.

Once the marble cake has cooled a little, turn out onto a wire rack to cool before devouring in warm slivers or slabs.

Simple, but so divine.

Softer than soft sponge, flavoured with orange, chocolate and vanilla. That’ll do for me. I am a simple person of simple tastes. That’s a lie actually, I do like nice perfume and handbags, but when it comes to cake, a simple Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake does it for me. Happy National Cake Week one and all.

Lucy x

This post contains my lovely VonShef stand mixer, kindly given to me to review, however, all opinions and ramblings are, as always, my own.

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake Recipe

Makes one loaf cake, serving from 1 to 8 hungry cake eaters

You will need a lined 1kg/2lb loaf tin and a stand mixer or bowl and spoon

125g Stork or soft butter

175g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

175g self raising flour

a good pinch salt

2 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons cocoa

zest of half an orange

2 tablespoons orange juice

Take you loaf tin and either butter v well or line with baking paper. Pre heat your oven to 150 degrees fan assisted.

In your stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand whisk or spoon, beat your Stork or soft butter and caster sugar until both lighter in colour and texture. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract then fold in the flour and pinch of salt until you have a smooth batter. Take two medium sized bowls and divide the cake mixture in half putting one half in each bowl.

In the first bowl of mixture fold in two tablespoons of milk and then put to one side.

In the second bowl mix in 3 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons orange juice and the zest of half an orange.

Now take your loaf tin and spoon in a blobs of the vanilla mixture. In the gaps in between, spoon in blobs of the chocolate mixture. Repeat with the rest of each of the mixtures in a second layer.  Now take a knife or skewer and swirl through the cake mixture to marble the two mixtures together.

Place the tin in the oven for around 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is golden, firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean when poked in the middle. Leave to cool on a wire rack before turning out and serving in large warm slabs.

The cake will keep, well wrapped, in a tin for 3 to 4 days.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave