Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake:
Ingredients:
- For the marble cake:
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 200g Unsalted butter
- 4 large eggs
- 200g self raising flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbs cocoa powder
- For the vanilla icing:
- 375g icing sugar
- 6 tbs hot water
- 90g butter
- 6 tsp vanilla extract
- Chocolate icing:
- 60g butter
- 250g icing sugar
- 4tbsp hot water
- 4 tbsp coca powder
Method:
For the sponge:
- Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Butter the base and sides of the tins and line the bases with baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
- Add in the eggs, then slowly add in the flour, baking powder.
- Divide the mixture between 2 bowls
- Add the cocoa powder in one and the vanilla extract into the other.
- Use 2 spoons to gently dollop the 2 flavours of mix into the tins to create a marble effect.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
- Once cooked leave on a wire rack to cool before placing in the fridge.
For the shards:
- Melt the milk chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan with water.
- Spread this over the plate or tray covered with baking paper.
- Melt the white chocolate in the same way.
- Slowly pour the white chocolate over the milk and use a fork to create a ‘marble’ effect.
- Leave to set in the fridge.
- Once set carefully chop into shards.
For the chocolate icing:
- Bring some water to the boil
- In a medium sized mixing bowl add the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder.
- Pour in the hot water and use a whisk to combine the ingredients together until whipped and smooth (add more water if needed).
For the vanilla Icing:
- Bring some water to the boil.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl add the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract.
- Pour in the hot water and use a whisk to combine the ingredients together until whipped and smooth (add more water if needed)
To assemble/decorate:
- Use half the coco icing and spread on top of one of the layers, place the other on top.
- -Use just less than half of your vanilla icing to thinly crumb coat the cake (this prevents any crumbs making its way into the icing)
- Chill for around 30 minutes.
- Use the rest of the vanilla icing to ice the cake.
- Cut slits in the top of the cake, this is where your shards will go.
- Arrange the shards, for the best effect try and place the bigger ones nearer the back.
- Fill a piping bag with the remainders on the chocolate icing, try to use a larger piping nozzle
- Randomly pipe little dollops of icing around the shards, there is no set arrangement to this.
- Finally, as a finishing touch add a little pearl ball to the top of each piped dollop.